
PLAN OF CREATION 
OR SWORD OF TRUTH 



i 



ARCHIBALD SIGNORELLI 




Class 
Book 




77/vy\ / 



f? 



Copyright^' . 



COPYRIGHT DEFOSrr, 



PLAN of CREATION 

OR 

SWORD of TRUTH 



By ARCHIBALD SIGNORELLI 

(Frank Reed) 



S0M/, 




Prict $1.00 Postpaid 



CHICAGO 

CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY 

1916 






DEDICATED TO MY BROTHERS AND 
SISTERS, AND IN SACRED MEMORY 
OF OUR PARENTS, WHO BECKON 
FROM THE FAR SHORE ! 



"When I think of the great work you have accomplished — 
it seems to me you have had no misspent days; you have been 
no dreamer — but a worker. You have made a beautiful thing 
of each new year; you have endeavored uprightly and endur- 
ed heroically. To those who know you, you give new heart, 
new hope, new courage — to live more faithfully, more kindly, 
more patiently, touched with a higher and holier purpose. 

"You have paid a price but few would have paid — for the 
harvest — and it must be we live in a divinely ordered world, 
then it must be — that you will come into possession of all that 
is due you." — Mrs. Jessie Whitsitt. 



Copyrighted, 1016, By Frank R««d. 

ISO 



ir. 



JEt 



M -8 1916.. 

©CI.A431415 



REAPING THE HARVEST 



"Would you be helped yourself? 

Go thou, and help your brother, 
No more can come to you 

Than you would give another; 
Life has its subtle scales 

To weigh our thoughts and actions, 
And woe to him who fails. 

To meet its close exactions. 

The acts you do today 

May prompt another's deed; 
In paths through which you stray 

Another's steps may lead: 
Yet you must pay again 

For truth is ever true; 
The harm that came to them 

Shall come again to you. 

If love be in your thought 

To meet another's need, 
Its ray divine is caught 

In act and word and deed; 
Love is the key of life 

That unlocks every door, 
And all we freely give 

Enriches us the more." 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Page 

Introduction , 2 

Plan of Creation 7 

The Atom 42 

.Evolution 58 

The Two Planes, Spiritual and Physical 66 

The Mind and Its Faculties 70 

Active and Passive Principles in Nature 106 

The White Stone and New Name 115 

Eternal Life in the Flesh Not Promised or Possible. 128 

The Dynamic God-Head, King of the Universe 137 

The Law of Gravity 158 

"The Word Made Flesh" 165 

The Marriage Institution. 192 

Miscellaneous 206 

Astrology and Alchemy 221, 

The Two Cherubim 228 

The Planets 239 

The Brazen Serpent 281 



.Mtom* 




^r< 



PLAN OF CKEATION! 

OE 
SWORD OF TEUTH!!! 

A planless house would have neither roof, walls 
nor foundation. A structure without design is 
inconceivable. A planless universe is equally an 
impossibility. Nature is a great chemist. She is 
the embodiment of mathematical law. Every 
process of nature is performed with mathematical 
precision. The reader who may question the 
truth of these claims is asked to withhold his 
judgment, while we array before him incontro- 
vertible evidence that there is plan and purpose 
in this universal structure. 

There can be plan and purpose without mind 
recognition. Fixed law made mind possible, but 
mind did not make the lawV Law creates, but 
law was not created. Our own organisms were 
planned without mind recognition. They are 
kept in repair without such recognition. A plan 
is a result reached by a definite course of action, 

J7 



8 PLAN OF CREATION 

whether willed by mind or controlled by fixed 
law. The frog is no less a plan of nature for hav- 
ing cast off its tail. Man is no less a plan of na- 
ture because of having passed throngh evolution- 
ary stages of development and his further ad- 
vancement can but reveal the goal toward which 
he is directed. 

If the earth were onlv an aimless mass thrown 
from the sun. it would represent a broken law; 
An aimless beginning must have an aimless end. 
It is impossible to imagine a broken law as being 
mended. Matter thrown from a planet as the re- 
sult of rotation would be an accident. It would 
mean that the power of gravity had been over- 
come. It would mean, in short, a broken law; to 
bring the severed mass back under the attractive 
power of the planet would necessitate a whole 
series of accidents. Had the sun lost control over 
the mass known to us as the earth, it could never 
have regained control or halted it in its outward 
course ; its momentum would have carried it away 
from the sun into the endless depths of space! 
No one who will think the matter over seriously 
will contend that it could have been otherwise. 
Imagine a huge boulder hurled from the surface 
of this earth as a result of rotation on its axis, 
and being halted in its outward course by the 
power of the earth's attraction! Eeason is con- 
tradicted in the idea. To believe it, we must ig- 
nore the facts. 

The fact that the earth moves in an orbit and 



OE SWOED OF TEUTH 9 

is now governed by law is proof that it was so 
governed from its birth. One single broken link 
in the plan of design would have rendered the 
whole chain worthless and senseless. Nature is 
so positive in action and so perfect in adjustment 
that she can not lose control over even the small- 
est particle of her substance. A house built of 
timber is no less a plan because the forest was not 
conscious of the purpose it was to serve. Or, if 
the house be made of brick or stone, the sense of 
plan is not lost ; the house is the finished product, 
and is therefore the plan. The house is designed 
in the tree, the tree in the seed, as the oak in the 
acorn. The brick is designed in the clay from 
which it is molded. Man has no power to create 
design ; he can only extend it to completion. Man 
discovered mathematical law, but he did not create 
this law. The fundamental laws of nature are 
without beginning or end. At no time were these 
laws created, and at no time can they be de- 
stroyed. 

Prior to the beginning of the span of time, the 
law of momentum was carrying the atoms of mat- 
ter from limitless space to a common center. The 
purpose of the plan was not then manifest, for 
prior to the beginning of creation, there were no 
conscious centers, and therefore no mind or 
minds. Prior to this, nature was in her broken or 
elemental state. The fact that there is conscious 
life proves the contention that there was a be- 
ginning, for a beginning makes conscious life pos- 



10 PLAN OF CKEATION 

sible. The last thing formed points as to the be- 
ginning. The last child born proves that there 
was a first. We can never get away from the fact 
of a beginning, and this fact will be as real and 
as true a hundred million years hence as it is at 
this moment, for facts can not grow old. The 
written pages of history may grow dim and fade 
altogether, but recorded facts will endure for 
eternity. 

Law of Limitation. This is a fundamental 
law. Except for this law there could be no 
universe of forms. This law applies in in- 
dividualities as in outward forms ; as truly in men, 
as in moons and other planets. Two or more 
planets limit each other, as do two or more in- 
dividualities. Variation in any measure, limits 
the extent of variation. To conceive of a God 
filling all space, and some imagine this, we must 
imagine a God as silent and inexpressive as space 
itself, for the moment quality or variation is in- 
troduced, that moment, the lines of limitation are 
drawn. Only space and eternity are limitless, for 
in these two nonentities there is no quality or 
variation. 

Eternity is a circle; it has neither begin- 
ning nor end. But time is a span, because it is 
the measure of a process, and a process begins 
and ends in time. We are conscious of change 
and change only, for there is no passing of time, 
since time has no existence as an entity. What 
does not exist can not pass. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 



11 




Time is a measurable 
period, as here shown. 
[t rises out of the circle 
of eternity and sinks 
back into it. It had its 
birth at the beginning of 
creation and will be lost 
in the circle of eternity 
when further change in 
physical matter has 
reached its end. 
Eternity is well represented by a circle because 
a circle has neither beginning nor end. 

A universe millions of years old, would be a 
universe of stagnation, inactivity or snail-like 
progress. Progress is marked by processes and 
changes, not by years. Matter and substance are 
as old as eternity and therefore, as old as they can 
ever be. "All things are created in time, but 
nothing is created by it," not even decay. When 
we understand that change and not time is pass- 
ing, then we shall realize that "passing time" 
can solve no problems. Passing changes there 
are, and when all possible changes in physical 
matter have taken place, we shall then rest from 
our labors. 

The law of opposites holds good in all things; 
at no point does this law break down. The exist- 
ence of a measurable entity proves that there 
must be a measureless nonentity. It is the law! 
of oppoaites that gives meaning to life. Varia- 



12 PLAN OF CKEATION 

tion is this law in manifestation. Night teaches 
us the value of day, evil of good, death of life, and 
hate teaches us the value of love and sympathy. 
It is as important to see the reality of the unreal 
as to see, the reality of the real. Figures are 
meaningless when applied to space and eternity. 
They have no relation to either. That nature en- 
dowed man with the faculty of calculation should 
teach us that the universe and its processes are 
measurable quantities. 

So called passing time being only a measure of 
passing change, it may have been possible in the 
past for men to live to a great age, because it may 
have been possible for men to remain mentally and 
physically inactive. Methuselah could have been 
only a boy in understanding when he died. To 
live long, one must stop thinking; and some im- 
agine they will live here forever. Age is deter- 
mined not by the number of the earth's revolu- 
tions around the sun, but by changes wrought in 
the organism, by mental and physical activity. 
Not what takes place in the world without, but 
what takes place in the world within, causes the 
body to "grow old." 

Only within the atmosphere of the individual 
planets can there be any light. Interplanetary 
space is as dark and lifeless as is the space beyond 
the universe. This is yet to be rescued from dark- 
ness and death. At least, the universe will con- 
centrate until there are no death spots left with- 
in it. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 13 

This, then, is the plan and purpose; not to make 
a larger universe, but to overcome the darkness 
in it; to eliminate the death spots, for our happi- 
ness and completeness does not depend upon the 
exploration of endless space. Size is but a small 
factor in completeness and happiness. And since 
it is in processes or changes that we find the ex- 
planation of the present aspect of the universe, 
pushing its origin back to even the twelfth period 
of notation, and multiplying by itself a thousand 
times over, proves nothing and explains nothing. 
Such efforts serve only to confuse the mind, for 
facts are simple when understood. Nature takes 
no steps that can not be traced; she makes no 
moves that are beyond finite comprehension. 
Dating the birth of the universe back hundreds 
of billions of years, is simply an effort to remove 
the problem from us in point of time, yet leaving 
the fact present with us, and here it will remain. 
Facts do not grow old, nor can they be moved any 
distance from the mind. Why not face these facts 
like men, and solve these problems like philos- 
ophers? Here is the reason for the appearance of 
this book; its purpose is to call scientists back 
from false theories to the plane of sane thought. 
Most of our scientists are men of reason and judg- 
ment, but a false foundation forbids reasonable 
conclusions. They can make these facts here only 
hinted at, plain and beautiful, once they turn from 
their false foundations. Our scientists have run 
after false gods; we want them to devote their 
time to expounding the works of the living God. 



14 PLAN OF CKEATION 

They speak of the universe as though it were a 
game of chance, when at the same time they know 
it is governed by law. 

A body composed of two or more simple ele- 
ments must necessarily have had its birth. The 
elements themselves have always existed. This 
fact, scientists have no difficulty in understand- 
ing. And the birth of the last proves the birth of 
the first. There could be no last without a first, 
nor first without a last. 

This does not mean, however, that the last form 
to be created in the physical universe will mean 
the end of the universe. It means that the in- 
visible elements of physical matter will all be cast 
out to "rise forever and ever as the smoke of our 
sins," for pain and discord in every form are due 
to the flesh and physical matter. The universe 
will then be bound together by bands of sympathy 
that can not be broken, and the spiritual universe 
will endure for eternity. Nothing but the fine 
gold will then remain, and we shall be as "perfect 
as our Father in heaven is perfect." Then and 
then only can joy and happiness be complete in 
the absolute sense, without a single note of in- 
harmony and without the possibility of there be- 
ing any discord. The perfect can never become 
imperfect and no manner of reasoning can make 
it appear otherwise. Adam was perfect only in 
outward form, as we shall see in another chapter 
of this book. It is to the shame of the church that 
it has taught a contrary doctrine. 

Of the three accompanying diagrams, one 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 



15 




shows the path of the atoms merging into each 

other before reaching a 
common center; another 
shows a wall of fire due to 
the rushing together of 
these atoms before the 
'common center was 
reached; the third shows 
the straight lines that 
marked the paths of the 
atoms, illustrating how 

they moved in all con- 
ceivable directions, yet 
approached each other 
from directly opposite 
quarters of endless 
space. A better idea 
may be gained by tak- 
ing a perfectly round 
ball and sticking it full 

of pins, than can be 

had from this diagram, 

which can only be shown 

on a flat surface. The 

heads will show that all 

conceivable directions 

are covered, at the same 

time the points of the 

pins will be directed to a 

common center. The 

power of imagination 





16 PLAN OF CREATION 

must be brought into play at this point, in order 
that a perfect understanding may be had of this 
most wonderful fact, for we are here looking at 
facts and not fiction. And notwithstanding the 
pins all point to a common center, it will be seen 
at the same time that they point in every con- 
ceivable direction. Could we in imagination look 
back into the beginningless cycle of eternity and 
see the atoms of matter standing still or could we 
see them suddenly started toward a common cen- 
ter, we would behold a miracle without the pos- 
sibility of its ever being explained. The law of 
momentum has never been idle and it never will 
be, for at the end of creative time it will carry 
the dead atoms of physical matter back into the 
endless depths of space from whence they came, 
and for an eternity it will continue to act. This 
law is now active in carrying the planets around 
the sun, thus changing from straight lines to cir- 
cular motion. 

We can not measure one nonentity except with 
another nonentity; therefore past eternity was 
spent in bringing the broken particles of matter 
and substance to a common center. This is meas- 
ured by a process. Momentum is the eternal law 
and the process was the atoms moving along per- 
fectly straight lines, at exactly the same rate of 
speed, the distance being always the same from 
each atom to the common center. Had it been 
otherwise then there could have been no universe. 

For an eternity the law* of momentum carried 



OE SWOED OF xEUTH 17 

the atoms of matter from the endless depths of 
space toward a common center on perfectly 
straight lines, not deviating from these lines one 
hair's breadth. There could not have been any 
deviation, for there was no disturbing element. 
The deviation would have introduced an element 
of chance, and there could have been no element 
of chance. In an absolute vacuum there could be 
no deviation from perfectly straight lines. The 
fact that there is a universe is proof for what is 
claimed. 

Thus do we see that the plan of nature was not 
an invention but inherent in every atom of matter 
that moved through space and was and is as old 
as eternity. And thus do we see that nature has 
never been idle but has been at work on her de- 
sign through all past eternity; an eternity was 
required for the law of momentum to bring the 
separate elements of matter from the endless 
depths of space to a common center. Then be- 
gan the work of molding into concrete forms. 
This process is going on through every hour of 
time and can not stop till all is complete. The 
law of mathematical permutation as expressed in 
64 elements of matter^ will have been fulfilled or 
satisfied, and then God will rest from all His la- 
bors, and "time (change in physical matter) shall 
be no more." 

A better understanding of the law of momen- 
tum on the part of scientists will reveal the fact 
that neither the rotation of a planet on its axis, 



18 PLAN OF CREATION 

nor yet its onward motion in its orbit around some 
other planet could have the slightest tendency to 
throw off any part of this planet into space. The 
motion or motions of a planet have no more effect 
on the parts of a planet in relation to the whole 
planet, than if the planet stood still in its orbit. 
Momentum is imparted evenly to all parts of the 
planet, down to the smallest grain of sand, and 
nothing short of a volcanic eruption or explosion 
of some kind could hurl any part of a planet from 
its surface. 

Should we find that rivers flowing north and 
south cut away their west bank soonest, the phe- 
nomena would have to be explained on some other 
basis, for reason and experience both teach us 
that momentum must be equal in all parts of a 
moving body. Start two bodies through an ab- 
solute vacuum at the same instant of time, and at 
exactly the same rate of speed, and both would 
move on for an eternity at even rates, regardless 
of their difference in size and regardless of the 
kind or quality of matter composing them. This 
is an added proof that the earth never was cast 
off from the sun, and that the moon was not 
thrown from the earth or from any other planet. 
All planets were formed from rings of gaseous 
matter, each according to a mathematical law ex- 
pressed in chemistry. Nature reaches out through 
the laws of chemical harmony and she ceases to 
enlarge when the law of harmony has been satis- 
fied in the individual creation, whether it be man, 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 19 

plant or planet. It is conceded by many, if not by 
all scientists, that there was a beginning to this 
universal structure. They differ as to the manner 
and time when creation began. One scientific 
writer points out that the elements of matter must 
have stood apart at some past time, that some 
distance separated these elements. But this dis- 
tance must have been a varying distance, other- 
wise how account for a beginning? The position 
here taken is that the distance separating the ele- 
ments of matter was a varying distance, and on 
any other hypothesis we shall find difficulties that 
are hard to explain away. 

Some declare that spirit and matter fill all 
space. This position is untenable, for here it is 
declared that an entity, and this is always a meas- 
urable quantity, is as extensive as a nonentity. 
And then again there are some who think they see 
a universe that always existed. Even our own 
earth is thought by some, to have always existed 
practically in the form we now find it. Either 
of these claims blots hope from the human mind. 
Both claims lead to the same difficulties. If spirit 
and matter fill all space, then the workman has 
been standing by his unfinished task for an eter- 
nity, and what he could not do in eternity past, 
he will not be able to do in eternity future. No 
matter which way we face, eternity is equally 
measureless. If the workman stood by his work 
for an eternity before beginning it, how account 
for his making up his mind to begin the work at 



20 PLAN OF CEEATION 

all? How account for his not having the job com- 
plete, if he did not begin at some definite time? 
And if he did not begin the work, but was always 
working and shaping things, then we must give 
up our faith in the Christian religion, the Old and 
New Testaments, and take up the doctrines and 
beliefs of Theosophists, for if any progress at all 
is made in evolution and unfoldment, complete 
unfoldment can be reached in measured time. 
The Christian faith points to eternal joy in a state 
of perfection. Theosophy points to perfection for 
a period, but carries us back to chaos to begin the 
struggle all over again. And this has taken place 
an endless number of times, if they be right in 
their ideas, for eternity is measureless in either 
direction, and to account for how it has been spent 
is the task before us. We must all know that any- 
thing that can be lifted toward perfection, can be 
lifted to that state in a measurable period of time. 
If we accept the claim that matter is crystal- 
lized spirit, we meet with the same difficulties as 
in the other claims, for here again we see the 
workman standing idly by his task for an eternity. 
Or if this workman was not idle but was always 
active, then we face the fact that an eternity of 
active effort has failed to lift the universe to a 
state of perfection. If there be such a thing as 
perfection, then this state can be reached in a 
measurable period of time. If there be no such 
thing as a state of perfection, then there is no 
hope and no purpose in nature. If nature unfolds 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 21 

at all, regardless of how slow this unf oldment may 
be, then she will unfold completely in a measur- 
able period of time. 

If we go back a thousand million quintillion 
years, there will still be left an eternity back of 
that. If a bird could wing its way from the earth 
to the sun, making a trip once in a million years 
and carrying in its bill one single grain of sand 
and depositing it on the sun, it would finally suc- 
ceed in removing every atom of matter composing 
the earth to the sun, and have all eternity left in 
which to rest from its labors, for no matter how 
much you subtract from eternity there still re- 
mains the same measureless quantity. No scien- 
tist who is worthy of the name, will contend that 
eternity has either beginning or end. Neither will 
any man of common sense contend that space is 
limited in extent. Both eternity and space are 
nonentities, and nonentities are not measurable 
quantities. 

An eternity of unf oldment along lines of evolu- 
tion, would mean an eternity of suffering. On 
this earth there is pain and suffering every mo- 
ment of time, and this has been going on from the 
hour organic life made its first appearance on the 
planet. In the theory here presented, if you must 
call it a theory, an eternity was spent without suf- 
fering and without feeling or consciousness. 
Which, then is the most reasonable doctrine, that 
which sees sorrow and pain for an eternity, or 
that which begins and ends the struggle in a 



22 PLAN OF CREATION 

measurable period of time? In the chapter on 
atoms, we shall see how the atom is shaped, and 
why steam and compressed air exert the same 
power. But I here wish to direct the reader's 
attention to the fact that in the detached or bro- 
ken state spirit is unconscious, for in this state 
there is no variation. Spirit, although broken or 
divided in the atoms, is nevertheless able to blend 
perfectly when freed from the atom of matter. 
And it is only when a number of live atoms are 
drawn together in animal organisms that any kind 
of conscious life can manifest, for we must know 
that it is only in expression that conscious life is 
possible. The single atom is unable to express 
any variation, and conscious life is possible only 
in variation and change. 

Therefore the elements of matter and substance 
as they Were carried through endless space on the 
wings of momentum, were as unconscious as are 
the stones under our feet. Conscious life is pos- 
sible only when it can be expressed through men- 
tal faculties, as we shall see when we come to read 
the chapter on The Mind and Its Faculties. 
Spirit is an indivisible substance, and yet it was 
in detached form prior to the beginning of cre- 
ation. We do not destroy the power of water to 
blend perfectly with other water, by taking a 
small measure of it from a larger body of water. 
The drop taken from the ocean loses its identity 
wflien thrown back into the ocean. As it is with 
water so it is with spirit, though in a much more 



OE SWOED OF TEUTH 23 

perfect sense, for water still retains the physical 
atoms of matter, while free spirit has cast off the 
atoms of physical matter. 

The writer is fully aware of the fact that mil- 
lions of good people are more shocked by a knowl- 
edge of the truth than by theories that explain 
nothing. But these same people would be shocked 
to a much greater degree, if they could see to what 
designless and purposeless end the various false 
theories lead. These good people do not like to 
think of God or the spirit of God as ever having 
existed in broken or detached form. But it may 
be some consolation to these same people to be as- 
sured that spirit, after it breaks away from the 
physical atom of matter, blends with other free 
spirit, and that it can never again be detached 
from the great ocean of spirit. Water is not 
weakened by being separated. The smallest drop 
of water is water in as true a sense as is the great 
ocean of water. Spirit was no less spirit in its 
divided state than in its blended state. That man 
has not been given these facts before, is only just 
so much evidence that he was too full of foolish 
notions and superstition to receive them. 

"We owe our conscious existence to three nonen- 
tities. The universe of form came from the end- 
less depths of that great void called space. An 
eternity was required to bring the material from 
that endless void, and momentum was the giant 
that carried it here. Neither of these are entities; 



24 PLAN OF CREATION 

as substances they have no existence, and yet they 
are facts none of lis can get away from. 

Nature shapes the faculties of the human mind 
for special revelations; all represent books full of 
wonderful truths, one the equal of the other, and 
therefore it is not strange that a human book ap- 
pear and reveal its secret, when the time is ripe 
for it. We are each born to fulfill a certain pur- 
pose. Most of us fail to yield up what nature has 
designed in us. The plant unfolds its flower when 
the time is ripe for it. All are Edisons, only, most 
of us have no faith in our calling. 

The law of mathematical permutation is as 
much of a foundation law in mathematics as is the 
law of addition, subtraction or multiplication. 
That nature could possibly continue the law of 
variation to an infinite degree, is unreasonable, 
impossible and absurd. And, too, if it were pos- 
sible to eliminate matter and soul substance from 
the universe, leaving only the one single elemental 
substance spirit, beyond all doubt this substance 
would contract into a huge globe and remain ab- 
solutely expressionless for an eternity. That one 
single elemental substance could express varia- 
tion is unthinkable and impossible to imagine. It 
could not be and it is not a fact in nature. That 
nature would or could repeat herself in the phys- 
ical universe of matter, is past imagining. Na- 
ture can not repeat herself in physical matter; she 
can not strike two blows exactly the same, but 
works to the end of variation along all lines and 



OB SWORD OF TRUTH 25 

will cease to operate in physical matter when this 
end has been reached. These are foundation prin- 
ciples, and foundation principles can not be 
moved or altered in the least measure. 

It should be borne in mind that a mathematical 
law would be meaningless to the human mind, had 
nature not provided the mind with the faculty of 
calculation, and just as all colors would look alike, 
except for the fact that nature has provided the 
human mind with a faculty that analyzes and dis- 
tinguishes one color from another. The very fact 
that nature has provided man with the faculty of 
calculation, is proof in itself that matter is a meas- 
ured quantity and that variation is limited. 
There is not a faculty in the human head that has 
not some definite purpose to serve and a definite 
reason for its existence. 

No thoughtful mind would claim that taking 
one from anything does not make it one less; or 
that adding one to a number does not make it one 
more. You may add a hundred billion quintillion 
years to eternity and you will not thereby increase 
the quantity. You may measure off a thousand 
million quintillion miles of space, and there will 
be no less space left than though none had been 
measured. Therefore mathematics proves that 
all things are measurable and limited. Mathe- 
matical law would be meaningless except for this 
fact, and it can not be shown that nature has not 
a meaning and a purpose in all her parts. 

And when the world comes to realize the fact 



26 PLAN OF CREATION 

that live atoms are reduced to dead atoms in the 
process of growth and decay, then it will be seen 
that creation is limited to a comprehensible pe- 
riod of time. Scientists will yet be able to un- 
derstand that a long period of creation would be 
a denial of the operations of law. A long period 
of creation would signify defeat of nature in her 
active efforts. A building that would require the 
labor of one man a thousand years to complete, 
ought easily be completed by a thou&and men in 
one year. Nature has not only one man at work 
on her building, but she has stationed a workman 
at each shingle— even one on each nail to be 
driven; not a second of time is lost; the work goes 
on without ceasing, and night and day the forces 
of nature are working to the end of the completed 
structure. 

A thoughtful study of the diagrams on page 
fifteen of this chapter, will reveal to the mind the 
fact that the atoms of matter moved toward a pin- 
point center, and from every conceivable direc- 
tion, and that they moved in every conceivable 
direction. Figures 1 and 3 show conclusively that 
it was impossible for the atoms of matter to pass 
the common center toward which they were di- 
rected. And that they must of necessity arrive 
at this point at exactly the same instant of time, 
since the law of momentum was equal in every 
atom, with no disturbing element to turn them 
from their course or hinder them in their forward 
motion. And the law that governed the motion 



OR SWOED OF TEUTH 27 

of the atoms of matter in their beginningless jour- 
ney through space, was just as sure in its ultimate 
results, as would have been the case had each atom 
had but one single foot to move to meet another 
atom from an opposite quarter in space. A body- 
in motion in an absolute vacuum can not deviate 
from a perfectly straight line, and distance makes 
no difference in absolute results, as any thinking 
mind must recognize. 

There is no truth in the claim that a perfectly 
straight line drawn out to great length, will come 
back to its starting point. The mind that con- 
ceived that idea was thinking of a globe, as the 
earth, for instance. Start out on a perfectly 
straight line from any point on the surface of the 
earth and continue on your course, and you must 
of necessity come back to your starting point. A 
perfectly straight line drawn around a globe must 
necessarily be in the form of a circle. But space 
is not a globe. Neither is it in the form of a globe. 
It is not a thing of shape or limitation. Space is 
a nonentity, and there can be no limitation to a 
nonentity. In the language of Sir Isaac Newton: 
"If we could conceive of a wall around space, be- 
yond that wall there would be more space." 

And since the atoms of matter moved toward a 
pin-point center, moving as they did at exactly 
the same rate of speed, the greatness of the mass 
prevented this center being reached without first 
colliding millions of miles back in space beyond 
the common center. This resulted in the wall of 



28 



PLAN OF CEEATION 



fire, as shown in Fig. 2 on page fifteen of this 
chapter. Another fact the reader must under- 
stand, and that is that beyond the atmosphere of a 
planet there is no such thing as " up" or "down." 
The term "down" has reference to the center of 
gravity, while the term "up" means the exact op- 
posite or away from this center. Space is to be 
regarded as a level plane, in which an object will 
move as freely in one direction as another. Sci- 
entists already understand this fact, hence there 
is no necessity to elaborate on this point. 

The current that was set free by the force of the 
impact, moved on to what we now know as the sun 
center; here a perfect center of harmony was es- 
tablished, and from this perfect center all other 
centers were formed. So perfect is the sun cen- 
ter, were it possible to place an explosive in that 
body and scatter its elements, that it would in- 
stantly come together again in perfect form, and 
as though nothing unusual had taken place. (See 
"Electricity in Nature," by H. B. Philbrook.) A 
planet or other body freed from all elements of 
physical matter could not be destroyed or in any 
way injured by an explosion or other destructive 
force. The most that could happen would be the 
driving asunder the elements composing such 
body, but with no more injury than the thrust of 
the finger in a tub of water. 

There is not even the shadow of an element of 
chance in nature's plan or design, and never has 
been or can be. No false steps are taken; each 



OE SWOED OF TEUTH 29 

blow accomplishes the purpose intended, and each 
hour sees the great plan of nature a little nearer 
the final ultimate, and wihich is a state of abso- 
lute perfection. The full plan and purpose will be 
brought out in succeeding chapters. 

We must admit that there is plan and purpose 
in all of nature's operations, or else flatly deny 
that there is plan and purpose at all except what 
man himself has worked out! Is there a sane man 
living who is willing to place himself on record as 
making such a claim? How can man work out a 
design if his mental faculties are not a design? 

If there is any plan in a building at all, this 
plan must extend from the topmost pinnacle of 
the roof down to the mudsills and to the ground 
upon which they rest. Tell me, can there be de- 
sign in the least part except there be design in the 
whole? Can there be design in a single link of a 
chain and not design in every link ? Even men of 
ordinary intelligence recognize design in some of 
nature's work. It would be a poor observer and a 
duller thinker who would dispute the fact that the 
eyes serve the purpose for which they were de- 
signed, since they can be used for no other pur- 
pose, and that nothing man can invent would serve 
the purpose as well. It is willful blindness to seek 
to make it appear that either men or lower animals 
can change their general form by any act of the 
mind. Birds have wings because the deep-rooted 
causes that brought them into existence mixed 
the elements of their composition in the right pro- 



30 



PLAN OF CREATION 



portion to produce wings. These wings were not 
produced by the desire of frogs to fly at some past 
time, as some of our scientists have suggested. If 
frogs desired to fly in any past period of time, 
they would desire to fly more here and now.| If 
desire and use of muscles would develop wings, 
man would doubtless be well supplied with wings, 
since he uses his arms continually, and many de- 
sire to fly. Some do fly, but their wings are made 
of wood and cloth, instead of flesh and feathers. 

Grass growing down in the state of Texas could 
not be the direct cause of the growth of teeth and 
the peculiar stomachs in the cattle that are being 
bred in the state of New York and which are to 
be shipped later to the state of Texas. And yet 
the great cause that produced the one produced 
the other also, though acting along separate lines 
of development. It is a common saying that a 
chain is no stronger than its weakest link. It is 
just as true to declare that a chain ceases to be 
a chain that has a broken link. The links in na- 
ture's chain are all united and unbroken. 

Nothing happens without an acting cause. 
Even the things we call accidents can be shown 
to have resulted from active causes. In the true 
sense of the term, there is no such thing as an 
accident; for an accident would have to be some- 
thing that took place without a cause, which 
would be impossible. The word serves a very 
good purpose, since by its employment we can 
convey our meaning in a brief manner. An acci- 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 31 

dent is something that takes place not according 
to our wills, but in spite of them. Often ^hat is 
termed accidents leads to some useful discovery; 
and who can say that everything that afflicts man 
here and now, may not in the end work for his 
highest good? A blind man would be more likely 
to dispute it than would the philosopher who 
takes all things into account. The food that feeds 
the mind and develops it, consists more of the 
things we do not want and would not have, than 
of the things we welcome and strive for. It is not 
w'ell for us to judge effects until we have enlight- 
ened our minds on ultimates. 

Time a Nonentity. We speak of passing time 
or of time passing for convenience of speech, and 
for the same reason that we speak of the sun ris- 
ing and setting. Ten thousand or a hundred thou- 
sand revolutions of the earth around the sun does 
not add one second to our age or to the age of the 
universe. The universe is not a second older than 
it was at the instant of its birth. Change in mat- 
ter and in relative positions is all that takes place, 
and it is the only thing that has any meaning to 
us, even though we may think of time as some- 
thing passing by and being wasted. A billion 
years of what we call time would not work the 
slightest change in anything in the universe. The 
revolutions of the earth on its axis and its course 
around the sun and the changed relations from 
this motion, give us the idea of passing time, and 
the hands of watches and clocks are so arranged 



32 PLAN OF CREATION 

that they mark the rates of diurnal or daily rota- 
tion. No number of revolutions of the earth could 
work the slightest change in matter. A billion 
years of what we call time would leave the child 
just born an unchanged infant, not a second older 
than at the instant of its birth. 

An acting or active cause is the only thing that 
can produce any kind of change in anything or af- 
fect it in any manner. And the acting cause in 
the universe is a life agent that is as real as the 
earth upon which we dwell. Being unable to ac- 
count for the universe in its present aspect, sci- 
entists unconsciously sought to shove its birth 
back into what appeared to their minds a distant 
past, thinking thus to shove the problem from 
them in point of time, that is ever present and 
calling for solution. And here it will remain both 
before and after solution. All problems, both 
solved and unsolved, are here in the universe and 
right before us. 

The backward glance into endless space is mere- 
ly for the purpose of revealing the connecting 
links in the chain of preceding cause, since a sin- 
gle missing link in this endless chain would have 
rendered a universe absolutely impossible. There- 
fore in order to account for the universe and our 
conscious states of existence in it, we must trace 
the links of this endless chain back and find out 
what preceded this circular or spiral motion. Cir- 
cular motion can continue without ending, but it 
had to have a beginning. And we have found 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 33 

that beginningless motion through endless space 
was possible, but that that form of motion had 
to come to an end, since the broken particles of 
matter were directed toward each other, and 
therefore would as surely meet at a common cen- 
ter as would two locomotives headed toward each 
other on the same track. 

And while we can see the possibility of the lo- 
comotives being derailed, and thus being prevent- 
ed from coming together; or the fires going out 
under their boilers and of their motion being 
overcome by friction, we know that no such hin- 
dering causes exist in an absolute vacuum. Our 
scientists have been telling us for a century or 
more, that a body moving in an absolute vacuum 
would move on forever in a perfectly straight line 
at an unvarying rate of speed, unless acted upon 
by some outside force or collided with some other 
body. Therefore, there is very little that is new 
in this book to scientists; they have been able to 
see most of the links in this chain, and more espe- 
cially the links that are least visible to the un- 
trained minds. 

A body at rest in an absolute vacuum would for- 
ever remain at rest unless acted upon by some out- 
side force. And conversely, a body in motion in 
an absolute vacuum would move on forever in a 
perfectly straight line and at a uniform rate of 
speed, unless acted upon by some outside force. 
A bird in an absolute vacuum, allowing that it 
could live, working its wings at lightening speed, 



34 PLAN OF CEEATION 

would not be able to change its relative position 
a single inch in a million years or in an eternity. 

Hence we can be as positive that the atoms of 
matter did not begin their motion through space 
or change their course or vary their rates of mo- 
tion, as we are of the existence of the universe. 
There is no element of doubt in the problem and 
there is no room for doubt. And since we are 
fully conscious of evolution in nature, we know 
that a definite number of steps have already been 
taken, and that a definite number yet remain to 
be taken 

When we are told that the earth is 600,000,000 
years old the words simply have no meaning at 
all. If we are told that the earth has already 
made six hundred million revolutions around the 
sun, this will not express the idea scientists wish 
to convey. And yet this will be the only meaning 
it can have. Time is positively not a factor in 
creation. Change in matter at a certain rate is 
all that takes place, and this is the only thing 
that has any meaning to us at all. The history 
of the universe, its laws and operations, its per- 
fect order and harmony in the perfect state and 
the reflection of the physical universe in the spir- 
itual and the perfect, is what the mind will be 
filled with in all future time and eternity. A uni- 
verse without a beginning would have no history. 
Change in matter is taking place rapidly, as all 
know. Twenty-one revolutions of the earth 
around the sun carries the helpless infant to full 



OE SWORD OF TRUTH 



85 



maturity of both body and brain; a few more rev- 
olutions carries the body to old age and the grave. 
Time is like a post driven in the ground; it re- 
mains motionless, for having no existence, surely 
it can not pass. Mankind will grow weaker and 
wiser; mental operations will be much more rap- 
id in the future than in the past. The physical 
organism will become finer in texture, and for 
this reason the muscular system will become 
weaker and the body smaller in size. And in the 
ratio that man's organism takes on a finer texture, 
in that ratio will his span of life here on the ma- 
terial plane be shortened. The normal span of 
life was at one time one hundred and twenty 
years; it is now seventy years or less. The last 
generation to be born on the earth will probably 
finish its course in this earth school in about the 
time now required for the child to reach manhood 
and womanhood. And the soul when it reaches 
its perfect state will be about three feet in height, 
and would, if composed of flesh and blood, weigh 
about thirty pounds here on the surface of the 
earth. Thus shall we return to the state of little 
children in size and in sweetness of character, 
though in understanding we will be as gods full 
of wisdom. 

To this ultimate end is nature working. To dis- 
pute it we must close our eyes to the evidence be- 
fore us and declare that the universe is nothing 
but a jumbled mass of accidents. 

Is there a sane man living who would be will- 



36 



PLAN OF CBEATION 



ing to place himself on record as declaring that 
nature is not a fixed law working to a definite 
end? Atoms moving from an endless void to a 
common center may appear to some as the strang- 
est part of design in nature ; but if the reader will 
weigh values properly, he will see that atoms of 
matter moving toward a common center on the 
wings of momentum is not half as hard to under- 
stand as to imagine them standing still and then 
being suddenly started toward such a center. 
The atom in motion is much less of a mystery than 
the atom at rest in space. And no one disputes 
the existence of the atom, not even scientists, 
thoaigh they may call it an electron because it may 
sound better to them by that name. 

The succeeding chapters explain themselves; 
they should be read and studied in relation to 
each other, for nature is one complete whole, the 
parts being in perfect agreement with each other. 

Summary. It must be borne in mind that noth- 
ing can be accomplished that is without design or 
plan; the simplest piece of machinery or the sim- 
plest and crudest tool shaped by man is planned 
in the mind. Nothing at all can be accomplished 
by chance or accident. Nature works to a plan, 
the plan inhering in each and every atom in exist- 
ence. There could be no plan or design in the 
concrete, unless there be plan or design in the sin- 
gle elements that go to make up the concrete. 
The visible universe is composed of countless bil- 
lions of single elements, known as atoms, and 



OE SWOED OF TEUTH 37 

these are designed for the purpose they serve. 
The laws and principles of nature are eternal; 
they were not created; the single elements that 
make up the universe were not created, but always 
existed. But the universe had its birth ; it did not 
always exist. The Bible tells us that God was the 
builder of the universe, and that God is spirit; 
and spirit always existed; it did not begin to ex- 
ist, nor did the single elements of matter have a 
beginning. But all concrete and visible forms 
had a beginning. It is the beginning that gives 
meaning to life, and the lawte of nature are perfect 
and will do a perfect work, for we are finally to 
become as "perfect as our Father in heaven is 
perfect/' A perfect workman will not stop until 
his works are as perfect as himself. Eternal du- 
ration would become unbearable except all things 
be made perfect. The succeeding chapters will 
reveal as much as the mind of man can compre- 
hend at this time. The purpose here is to point 
out foundation facts; the explanations will come 
after the foundation facts are seen. 

There could not be design without law nor law 
without design. The two are inseparable. To 
dispute the one is to deny the other. No change 
took place in matter prior to the birth of the uni- 
verse. Change in relative positions of the atoms 
in space was the only change that did or could 
take place prior to their meeting at a common 
center. 

Some of our scientists have greatly deceived 



38 PLAN OF CREATION 

themselves by imagining that after discovering 
some of the methods by which nature does her 
work, that this disproves the claim that there is 
a God. But what kind of a god had they in mind ? 
We do not disprove the existence of Tom Brown, 
the watchmaker, by discovering the method by 
which he makes the watch! In this study of na- 
ture we must always bear in mind the fact that 
God is spirit, and that spirit does not work 
through fingers, in creating concrete bodies from 
the invisible elements of matter. Also, we must 
bear in mind the fact that man is spirit; the form 
being the lever through which it works to accom- 
plish other purposes. The discovery of some of 
nature's methods of doing her work should teach 
us that the universe is governed by law, and not 
by chance. 

The greater the distance we find man from his 
starting point, the more evidence that nature is 
carrying him forward to a definite goal, and that 
she is determined not to be defeated and will not 
be. Scientists make laughing stock of their the- 
ories, when they speak of worlds coming togther 
by accident or chance, and when they speculate 
over what condition man will find himself in a 
few million years hence. The idea that the sun 
must burn out and the earth grow cold, with no 
air and no water, and that man must of necessity 
perish as a result of this nightmare arrival, is 
really a foolish speculation. Nature knows how 
to keep up the supply of heat and air, as long as 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 39 

she needs them. And since nature has refused to 
be defeated in the past, it would be silly to im- 
agine that she will suffer herself to be defeated in 
the future. The supply must be equal to the de- 
mand. When there is no more supply there will 
be no more demand. And there will be no occa- 
sion for it. 

And just now we hear talk of another universe 
being discovered. Nonsense! How could we 
know? Knowledge of a thing through communi- 
cation with it forbids its being outside the uni- 
verse. Light waves do not extend beyond the 
universe, no more than the blood in your veins ex- 
tends beyond your organism. Knowledge of 
what is thought to be another universe is proof 
itself that it is a part of the one and only universe. 
If there were other universes, we could never 
know it, except by collision. One God and one 
universe. We need no more. One complete whole 
is better than any number of separated parts. 

A full knowledge of the universe, its laws and 
operations, its beauties and its harmonies, is the 
goal towjard which we are being carried. The 
final ultimate cannot be defeated or even greatly 
delayed. 

What would be thought of a man who had la- 
bored long weary years to build himself a house 
to shelter him from the storms, and after he had 
it finished and was enjoying the comforts of it, 
would set fire to it and burn it down That is ex- 
actly what you accuse nature of doing, when it is 



40 



PLAN OF CEEATION 



declared that man lives not again after physical 
dissolution! Only in this case the idea involves 
far more than the act of burning down a house; 
nature first built an earth on which to produce a 
man, and she labored up through the vegetable 
and the animal on up to man, and then, according 
to the ideas of many, just at the point where she 
has got man up to the plane where he begins to 
reflect her beauties and she is able to enjoy life 
in him, she destroys him ! Is that not a most fool- 
ish and senseless idea? Could there be design in 
nature without an ultimate, in which there is no 
defeat? A design that leads to no ultimate, is no 
design at all. And if there were no design, there 
could be nothing definite produced — no mind or 
reason — no organic life. 

By no number of designless and aimless opera- 
tions could man produce the simplest tool that 
serves him. And this being so, as any man of in- 
telligence knows, why imagine the concrete exist- 
ence of anything to be an accident? Tom Brown 
could not make a watch and put it together and 
make it keep time, by any imaginary number of 
aimless operations, not if you gave him an eter- 
nity in which to operate. To produce anything at 
all requires a definite course and plan of action. 
And no man can be so foolish as to imagine that 
the organism of man, coupled with his power to 
reason, is less complex or less perfect than the 
watch or the clock. If there is a man so foolish as 
to dispute what is here claimed, and which is a 



OE SWOED OF TEUTH 41 

plain matter, such a man is safer in an insane 
asylum than on the outside of it. 

The plan of nature stands naked before us; to 
dispute the ultimate would indicate mental weak- 
ness. The facts before us are too wonderful to 
permit doubt of a perfect ultimate, since an eter- 
nity has not been able to defeat nature up to this 
point. And if an eternity past has not defeated 
nature, why allow our weak minds to imagine that 
nature can be defeated? There is no evidence 
anywhere that nature's laws are breaking down 
or becoming weaker. A force and a life agent 
that has existed for an eternity will not die or 
lose its power even though some of us have been 
foolish enough to imagine that such a thing could 
take place. Eternity future will not add to the 
length of eternity past. Eternity is measureless 
in either direction — past or future. 

Our conception of passing time being based en- 
tirely on rates of motion of the earth in its course 
around the sun and its diurnal rotation on its axis, 
reveals the fact that if this rate should be doubled 
or quadrupled just so would our conception of 
passing time be increased. This is proof that time 
is not passing, but that changes are being ob- 
served. It also shows the folly of trying to shove 
the birth of the universe back to some imaginary 
distant past period of time. On the planet Mer- 
cury this would mean a very much shorter period, 
while on the planet Jupiter it would mean a much 
longer period, as observed from their surfaces. 



42 PLAN OF CKEATION 



THE ATOM. 

The atom is the unit of matter. It is a single 
element, and its size is estimated at from one two- 
hundred-fifty miUionth (250,000,000) down 
rTYto as low as one five-billionth (5,000,000,- 
^-^ 000) of an inch in diameter, a variation of 
twenty diameters. The latter figure gives us a 
particle of matter so small that 625,000,000 laid 
side by side in a straight row would only extend to 
the diameter of a single grain of wheat. To gain 
some better idea of how inconceivably small the 
lowest estimate allows for the size of the atom, let 
us imagine five billion of these small particles of 
matter in a row, and touching each other. Accord- 
ing to the estimated size, these five billion atoms 
will make a row one inch in length, whereas, the 
same number of grains of wheat in a similar row 
would extend a distance of more than ten thou- 
sand miles, almost half way around the earth's 
circumference. Nor is this estimate based on the 
largest grains of wheat. It may be mentioned 
here that the atom is not now regarded as the 
smallest possible particle of matter; certain sci- 
entists claim a still smaller particle as the unit 
of matter, which they call the electron. It would 
seem, however, that it matters little what names 
are given to these invisible and inconceivable 
small particles of matter. For names do not make 
them visible to us, nor do they explain what mat- 



OE SWOED OF TEUTH 43 

ter is nor furnish us with any basis for compre- 
hension. Giving new names, gives us no new 
facts. 

Therefore, we shall refer in this chapter to these 
elements as atoms, and for the sake of discussion 
allow that the sizes estimated above are correct. 
For no matter how small we allow either the atom 
or the electron to be, if we conceive of them as 
the basis of matter, we still have a rope of sand 
as truly as though we conceived them to be as 
large as billiard balls. There is nothing in the na- 
ture of matter that makes small particles hang to- 
gether any more securely than large particles, un- 
less glued together; and this would certainly be 
more easily accomplished with larger particles. 
It is more difficult to glue sand together than bil- 
liard balls, and more difficult to mend the breaks 
that might occur. It is easier to splice a large 
rope than a very small one. For to account for 
the power of gravity we must allow that there is 
an indivisible and unbroken substance permeat- 
ing matter. 

Sir Isaac Newton, in speaking of the power of 
attraction, is reported to have spoken in sub- 
stance as follows: "It is inconceivable that one 
particle of matter could attract another particle 
of matter through an absolute vacuum.' ' It is 
just as "inconceivable" to any other thinking 
mind, for a rope of sand, no matter how fine the 
grains, has no pulling or attractive power, unless 
it be through the presence of an unbroken sub- 



44 PLAN OF CREATION 

stance, reaching from one particle to another. 
This substance might be conceived of as drawing 
one particle of matter to another, in the same 
manner as an elastic band to each end of which 
had been attached a weight. If strong enough to 
do so, this band will bring the objects closer to- 
gether. To imagine attraction extending through 
broken particles of matter that are not in actual 
contact, without at the same time seeing the ne- 

ssity of an unbroken substance extending the 
whole length of this line, is little short of super- 
stition. 

The atom of matter is composed of three dis- 
tinct qualities of substance; in the center, ma- 
terial or physical atom; around this an atmos- 
phere composed of astral or soul substance, and 
third, the life element or spirit substance. The 
astral is coarser than the life element, as the ma- 
terial is coarser or harder than the astral sub- 
stance. 

The material atom is doubtless a hard element 
in all cases, while there are variations in densitv 
of astral substances, and may become tangible to 
our physical senses when the volume is great 
enough. The material atom is in all cases the 
basis of tangible matter, as cognized by our phys- 
ical senses. The astral substance is visible and 
tangible to the soul out of the flesh, and on that 
plane it is as likely that the physical is invisible 
and intangible to the spirits as soul and astral 
substance is to us here on the material plane. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 45 

This is not hard to believe, since the so-called 
X-Ray makes some visible and tangible things or 
substances invisible to us. Under the power of 
some forms of the X-Ray the flesh becomes invisi- 
ble to our eyes, but the bones of the body become 
visible through the flesh. But with this, we need 
not trouble ourselves, since the object here is to 
point out what seems to be an explanation of some 
familiar facts. 

The atmosphere of a planet is eight diameters 
of the planet. This appears to be the law. The 
same law obtains in the atom. The atmosphere 
of the atom is eight diameters of the material or 
physical atom, as shown in the figure at the be- 
ginning of this chapter. The dark spot in the 
center represents the material atom, while the cir- 
cle surrounding this represents the atmosphere of 
the atom. A union of atoms of different qualities 
of matter composes the solids, fluids and gases of 
the earth. The stones and the crust of the earth 
appear to consist in large measure of lifeless 
atoms, or atoms that have lost their atmospheres. 
This separation of the atoms from the atmos- 
pheres encircling them must have taken place 
during the formation of the planet, and resulted 
from the intense heat at the center of vortex; for 
here the action was too great to permit live atoms 
to exist. Deprived of their atmospheres, the dead 
atoms were drawn together through the principle 
of affinity, having lost the power of active resist- 
ance. In accordance with the same law, the atoms 



46 PLAN OF CREATION 

furthest from the center of vortex took their re- 
spective places, and Were molded into belts or at- 
mospheric strata. The first of these, we may con- 
clude, was the water belt; while those of less com- 
parative density took their places at points fur- 
ther distant from the then forming earth. Water 
is composed of live atoms, and to account for its 
being almost incompressible, we have only to con- 
sider the direct influence of gravity which is not 
possible in the upper regions of the atmosphere. 
That is to say, in the upper regions of the atmos- 
phere the water elements decombine, the power 
of gravity being too weak to hold them in close 
.contact. Under the full force of gravity, as here 
on the surface and below the surface, the water 
elements are brought close together by flattening 
their atmospheres, and are held in this state until 
released by the action of heat. It is reasonable, 
however, to suppose the atoms of matter vary in 
size in different classes of matter, and we may 
safely assume that the hydrogen element is one 
of the smallest elements, and that the oxygen atom 
belongs to the largest class of atoms. The law 
of affinity arranges the water elements and holds 
the atmospheres of the atoms of this element in 
close touch, but the power of gravity is required 
to grip these atoms and bring the material atoms 
in close touch. This accounts for the action and 
power of steam. Steam exerts no power except 
in a closed vessel; the heat under the boiler breaks 
the hold of gravity in the upper surface of the 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 47 

water, allowing the particles to separate from the 
surface, forming steam. Still under pressure in 
the boiler they pass through a pipe to the engine, 
where they escape into the cylinder and expand, 
manifesting power in action. Compressed air 
acts in exactly the same manner, for here we have 
the live atoms of air compressed and When free 
to do so, the atmospheres resume their original 
form, which we may assume to be round, as the 
illustration indicates. All combustible material 
is made up in part at least of live atoms. This 
is what is known as static electricity, and it is the 
release of this that gives off the flame and the 
heat. Matter composed entirely of dead atoms 
will not burn. 

As in water, so it is in all organisms and 
growths ; no concrete body can form except under 
the gripping power of gravity, for in all organ- 
isms the atmospheres of the atoms of matter that 
combine to make up such organisms, are flattened 
as in the case of water. Combustible material 
holds these electric atmospheres in its grasp, and 
when released they resume their natural form. If 
released by combustion, the blaze or flame is the 
result. 

Thus can we account for the incompressibility 
of water and the compressibility of air. Beyond 
these simple hints at the explanation of the hid- 
den facts of nature, there is no need for us to go 
here. The writer's only object is to point out 
facts not contradicted by other facts. 



48 PLAN OF CREATION 

There are as many kinds or qualities of astral 
substance as there are kinds of matter. This was 
at one time thought to be sixty-four, though the 
number is now estimated to be seventy-two or 
more. However, it is possible that the earlier es- 
timate is correct, and that the higher estimate 
comes from an unsuccessful attempt to separate 
certain composite substances into their elements, 
giving the appearance of new elements. 

Different densities of the atomic atmospheres 
give rise to varying rates of vibration, instead of 
resulting from thfcm, and this by law of necessity. 
The atom and its atmosphere may be illustrated 
by a pebble, thick syrup and water. The pebble 
will represent the atom of matter, and the syrup 
its atmosphere, while the water will correspond to 
the spirit or life element. There are, we shall say, 
sixty-four qualities of physical matter and an 
equal number of astral substances, and but one 
spirit substance. While the latter was in a sep- 
arated or detached state prior to the beginning 
of creation, as a substance it is fineness in the ab- 
solute sense and mixes or blends perfectly with 
the same substance when free to do so. This was 
not possible when the atoms of matter were out 
beyond the universe in space. But as they flowed 
together at a common center, the impact was so 
great that this electric substance was freed from 
the atoms of matter, in large measure, and formed 
a circulating current which, under the law or ac- 
cording to the law of affinity, began at once the 



OE SWORD OF TRUTH 49 

formation of the universe. This law is known to 
exist, but it is a law we are as yet not wise enough 
to explain. The fact that it has never been ex- 
plained, however, is no reason for not attempting 
to explain it. To ignore this law is to close our 
eyes to that which is apparent, for this fact is 
plainly evident in nature. We see this law at 
work in all new formations, whether mineral, an- 
imal or vegetable. Water is formed by the ac- 
tion of this law, assisted by gravity. The affinity 
that exists between different kinds of matter may 
not be understood, but we recognize it, and can 
build from this fact. 

Spirit is always clothed in astral or soul sub- 
stance; it is never found naked or free in form. 
Hence the resistance it meets with in passing 
through some kinds of matter. In its free state 
this substance would meet with no resistance at 
all in passing through any and all kinds of mat- 
ter. As an individual life is not possible outside 
of an organism, so are life and action impossible 
to the unclothed spirit. In its universal sense it 
is clothed in astral substance, and in its individ- 
ualized sense, encased in bodies of form. Steam 
outside of a closed vessel has no power, and the 
life agent in its naked state would be equally 
powerless. But just as steam is the life and 
power of the engine, so is spirit the life and power 
of the universe. Astral substance has no life or 
power, only as it is animated by this life sub- 
stance. For it is not reasonable to believe in 



50 PLAN OF CEEATION 

many kinds of life. There can be but one life 
substance, though it manifests in many forms, 
through various kinds of matter. Always its 
mode of action is governed by the nature of the 
substance through which it moves. The axman 
will make a bigger showing in soft wood than in 
hard wood. The traveler will move further in a 
day over a good road than would be possible over 
a steep mountain trail that is almost impassable. 
We are told that God is spirit, also that there is 
but one living God. This will be referred to in an- 
other chapter of this book. 

We live in a world of effect. The cause world 
lies -beyond the range of our physical senses; it 
is hidden from our physical eyes, and for the 
present it is better so. The tree we see growing, 
existed in the astral or cause world before it made 
its appearance in the physical or material world. 
Even snowflakes form around astral flowers, as 
can be seen in the Arctic regions, and perhaps in 
other parts of the globe, perhaps in all parts. The 
astral flower lies folded in the seed of the plant; 
the oak lies folded in the acorn. Man lies folded 
in the astral animal and in the vegetable and in 
the seed of the vegetable. In the matter of colors, 
it can be said that they are not due to different 
varieties of light. There is but one kind of light, 
manifested in a variety of ways. The waves of 
light vary, either in the length of such waves, or 
in the rates of vibration, depending upon the na- 
ture of the medium through which they are trans- 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 51 

mitted, or from which they are reflected. For ex- 
ample, rays of light passing through red glass and 
entering the eye or acting upon it, produce the 
effect we describe as red. Other rays passing 
through other substances, or reflected from other 
surfaces, produce on tke nerves of sight the sen- 
sation we describe as "blue," or "green" or "yel- 
low." But there are no red or blue or green or 
yellow rays of light. The nature of the substance 
or material through which light shines or from 
which it is reflected, accounts very well for the 
variations which w'e observe. It would seem to 
be as reasonable to claim that we have red eyes 
for receiving red light, green eyes for receiving 
green light and yellow eyes through which we see 
or receive yellow light, as to claim there are many 
kinds of light. There is but one white light sub- 
stance, and this is the prime mover and giver of 
all things. It would be as reasonable to claim 
that there are different kinds of life substances, as 
that there are different kinds of light. The spectro- 
scope is misleading in that it can only analyze 
such rays of light as are generated in the earth's 
atmosphere. It is as inadequate to explain the 
nature of light, as an analysis of the head waters 
of the river Nile, from a pint of water dipped up 
at its mouth. We know that light and heat are gen- 
erated in the earth's atmosphere, that they do not 
come to us from the sun, as heat and light. Light 
is a reproduction as a voice through a telephone 



52 PLAN OF CREATION 

and varies in each planet according to the density, 
nature and purity of its atmosphere. 

The Mathematical Law of Permutation. This 
law, coupled with the Law of Limitation, forbids 
endless variation. It also forbids a long period 
of creation. In the process of growth and decay, 
live atoms are reduced to dead ones. It is evi- 
dent that nature can only continue the process of 
growth so long as there are live atoms to draw 
upon. No two blades of grass are exactly alike; 
no two faces or personalities the same in every 
detail. Variation is the great law of life and when 
nature has exhausted this law, she will cease to 
work on the physical plane. Nature extended the 
law of variation as far as it was capable of being 
extended, in the atom or simple element of mat- 
ter and soul substance. The material atom is the 
basis, and the process of growth and decay is the 
great retorting process of separating the dross 
from the fine gold. As the miner would not con- 
tinue the process of retorting beyond the point 
where all the dross had been removed from the 
gold, neither can we imagine nature doing so. She 
will continue to bring new forms of life into exist- 
ence on the material plane as long as there is a 
possibility of variation, after which she will expel 
physical matter from the universe. The law of 
momentum will carry the dead atoms back into 
the endless depths of space from whence they 
came, but the fine gold will remain. And thus 
again are we led to see that laws were not created 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 53 

and that they will always be in active expression. 
The law of momentum brought the universe of 
matter and spirit from the endless depths of 
space, and when the process of retorting is fin- 
ished, this same law will carry the dross of matter 
back into endless space and away from the spir- 
itual universe, thus freeing us of the further curse 
of matter. 

The historv of the universe is nature's efforts 
to free herself from the dross of matter. Had 
there been no struggle and no effort needed to 
overcome, there would be no history and no con- 
scious life, for we are conscious only of the things 
we experience. Had there been no beginning to 
this universal structure, had it always existed, 
then there would be no history and no power of 
mind expression. Mind in that case would be of 
no higher order than that of the worm under our 
feet. 

At death of animal or decay of plant, an astral 
form is thrown off, which could not be unless 
many of the live atoms that entered into such 
growth had been reduced to dead ones. More- 
over, since the number of atoms both live and 
dead is limited, we can know from this that na- 
ture will reach the end of the law of mathematical 
permutation during a period of time not incom- 
prehensible to the mind of man. And since each 
atom differs in slight degree from every other 
atom, we can thus see the reason why no two 

blades of grass" can be alike. 



a 



54 PLAN OF CREATION 

The number of each class of atoms is approxi- 
m a t e 1 y : 37,686,435,902,906,048,234,221,270,106,- 
933,880,381,166,614,226,2 1 1,331,252,306,994,400,- 
000,000,000,000. This number multiplied by 64 
represents the number of atoms in all classes of 
matter, or the whole number in existence: 241,- 
193,189,774,094,445,737,5 3 9,8 7 0,8 6 9,9 1,6 1 2,8 6 8,- 
437,683,383,946,633,107,7 5 2,5 2 0,0 1 4,7 6 4,4 4 1,6 0,- 
000,000,000,000. 

The difficulty of computing accurately vast 
numbers involving so many operations makes it 
both possible and probable that the above re- 
sults may contain some inaccuracies, but they are 
approximately correct, and they represent the 
number of different combinations possible with 
sixty-four elements, or the total number of atoms 
that can exist with no two alike. No more and no 
less than this number could exist. A little thought 
must lead to the inevitable conclusion that there 
is a limit to all things, to numbers as well as forms 
and colors. Nature moves to the limit along all 
lines of activity, and is satisfied only when the 
end of variation has been reached. A greater 
number of atoms would express no additional va- 
riations, while a less number would be an incom- 
plete expression of the law of variation. The ma- 
terial for this universal structure always existed, 
and in the right number and kind, and nature is 
now at work placing each part in its proper place. 
She is a perfect workman and will leave no part 
of the work unfinished. She will also know when 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 55 

the building is completed, and will add nothing 
to the completed physical world but to destroy 
it. The material of the physical world has no 
other function than is fulfilled in the process of 
creation, and when this process is finished, mat- 
ter, as we know it here and now, will cease to 
exist — it will return from whence it came, back in 
space beyond the universe of form. 

A fanciful writer of some note once pictured 
the universe as the work of myriads of bugs. To 
his vivid imagination, even the human body was 
but a collection of bugs. His deductions were at 
least mathematically correct. Multiply bugs, and 
the result is no more than the intelligence of one 
bug. Multiply ignorance, and you obtain more 
ignorance. A group of ants could have but the 
wisdom of one, though having the combined phys- 
ical strength of great numbers. 

"Every building hath a builder, and God is the 
builder of the universe." The spirit is invisible, 
but it makes all else visible to itself through the 
things it acts on and through. Nature numbers 
the atoms that go into every growth, and she 
makes no mistakes. Hence it is not unreasonable 
that she has "numbered the hairs of our heads," 
for even though one have no hair on his head, na- 
ture provided so many places for separate hairs 
to grow. This is not a new thought to our sci- 
entists. They know that this is true. Mathe- 
matical principles are as old as eternity. Man 
did not invent them, he discovered them. Na- 



56 PLAN OF CREATION 

ture works along the law of mathematical per- 
mutation and in accord with the law of math- 
ematical chemistry. She compounds in the best 
manner and according to the law of harmony. 
Nature is herself these laws and harmonies in ac- 
tive expression. 

As a passing remark, a theory involving con- 
tradictions can at best be only true in part. But 
any theory in which there is no contradiction, and 
which is not out of harmony with a single known 
fact, deserves consideration. Nature strives con- 
tinually to reveal her secrets to man, and just as 
she strives to bring the flower to its perfect state 
of beauty. But only those who seek knowledge 
with* unprejudiced minds can hope to gain much 
from a study of nature and her operations. "I 
will hide my secrets from the wise and reveal 
them unto babes," means only that the blinding 
power of prejudice and preconceived notions hide 
facts from those who could otherwise discover the 
deeper things of nature. The term "babes" 
means only that nature will reveal her secrets to 
those who come before her with clean minds and 
without pretentious knowledge. If we already 
know or think we know the facts and secrets of 
nature, she can give us nothing. We must first 
get rid of our much boasting of what we think 
we know, before we can receive the truth. To 
gain the truth we are to carefully observe the 
workings of nature as we would study the action 
of a complicated piece of machinery, and know 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 57 

that man can do no more than copy after nature. 
The number of atoms in existence, according to 
the figures here given, is represented by 87 fig- 
ures; this may look small to those who like to 
imagine in measureless quantities. But let those 
who care to take the time and trouble to figure it 
out, and they will find that this number of atoms 
even of the lowest estimated size would make a 
solid cube of matter incomprehensible billions of 
miles in measurement. The numerical value of 
eighty-seven figures placed in a row is beyond fi- 
nite comprehension, even when the number of 
atoms represented by these figures are made to 
represent a solid cube of matter. 



58 PLAN OF CEEATION 



EVOLUTION. 

An animal after reaching full growth or ma- 
turity, does not undergo any marked change of 
form. In some cases, as the caterpillar and but- 
terfly, tadpole and frog, a change of physical 
structure is observed; but this is during the evo- 
lution of growth from embryo to fully developed 
organism. The tadpole is only the immature 
frog, w^hile the caterpillar is but the young or 
embryonic butterfly. These never could develop 
into anything else than butterfly and frog. This 
is the pattern nature cut them to. These are crys- 
tallizations, and the elements of their composition 
is determined in the egg. If lower animals had 
ever undergone any transformation of form either 
during the time of their growth from embryo to 
tull grown animal, or after maturity, they would 
be doing so today. Evolution can not cease so 
long as reproduction continues. If lower animals 
could evolve to the human plane along physical 
lines, we could today trace every link of this chain 
in process of formation. 

But nature has a method by which she does 
carry lower forms up to higher forms and to 
higher planes. It is quite true that the lower 
forms of animal life do evolve to the plane of the 
human, but it is along spiritual lines, not physical. 
Plants and animals throw off astral or soul forms 
at death and decay of the physical form, and these 



OR SWOED OF TRUTH 59 

are passed to the next plane above, forming the 
nucleus of the more perfect form which latter 
takes its form from the mother, during the devel- 
oping period. It is a well knowin fact that snow- 
flakes fall in the form of flowers of the field. It 
could not be that the flower forms of the countless 
millions of snowflakes take their shapes from 
chance. (See Electricity in Nature, by H. B. Phil- 
brook.) There must be a connected cause, a fixed 
law back of those phenomena. The attention of 
the reader is directed to the snowflake flowers as 
proof for the contention that plants and animals 
throw off an astral at death and decay. The hu- 
man young has much greater brain capacity than 
has the lower animal, even though the mother 
may not be mentally or physically strong. The 
healthy animal mother would certainly be in a 
better condition to give birth to a human being 
than a diseased or abnormally developed human 
mother. But the elements of composition deter- 
mine the form, and we must go to the egg and the 
seed for the beginning. Almost any kind of seed 
will grow better in rich soil than in poor. The 
fact is that we have before us the long declared 
truth that " every seed-bearing tree or plant, and 
every animal brings forth after its kind," and its 
"kind" never changes its form in the physical. 
The doctrine of evolution in the Darwin sense is 
a denial that there is a soul. And even though we 
grant evolution on the physical plane, we can not 
make way for eternal life, except through evolu- 



60 PLAN OF CEEATION 

tion on the astral plane. But one claim contra- 
dicts the other. Evolution on the physical plane 
disputes the claim that there is a soul, and if no 
soul, then there can be no evolution on the astral 
plane, for the astral is the soul. The Darwin the- 
ory does more than deny the existence of the soul ; 
it denies fixed law, for it acknowledges defeat. 
If there is a fixed law of nature, then there can be 
no defeat. If there ever was evolution or change 
of form in the physical, this law would be as 
potent today as at any time in the past, for na- 
ture's law does not grow old and die. So long as 
growth and decay continue, the law that governed 
in the past will govern in the future. 

While seeking to pay homage to nature, the 
evolutionists in reality belittle her; for while ad- 
mitting infinite detail in part of the process, they 
introduce a destroying factor at the close; a mill 
that grinds to powder the crowning glory of her 
achievements. Imagine a machine that shapes 
perfect figures at one end, only to grind them to 
pieces at the other! Can a stream rise higher 
than its source? It must, if man lives not again 
after the dissolution of the physical form. Can 
man aspire to heights where nature can not carry 
him? If so, then the stream rises higher than its 
source. The visible form of man aspires to no 
more than do the stones under his feet. It is not 
the physical that aspires; it is the great pulse of 
nature. 

The mind of man has no power to imagine 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 61 

things higher or more perfect than exist at the 
great universal soul center; though he may im- 
agine many things not in harmony with the 
truth, he can not imagine anything greater than 
the truth. The astral body of the lower animal 
can be molded into the human form, though it is 
not reasonable to suppose that the lower animal 
could change its physical form to that of the hu- 
man. The physical world is but the world of ef- 
fect; the cause world is the astral. The broken 
eggshell is not proof that the chicken that once 
inhabited it is dead. The lifeless form of man is 
no proof that his soul and faculties are not alive 
and active in the cause world. 

Would a man whose business it is to raise frogs 
kill all the tadpoles as fast as they appear! If 
we are to believe the scientists, this is what na- 
ture has been doing for hundreds of thousands 
of years. She pounces upon all of her embryonic 
human beings before any of them reach maturity. 
It is contrary to natural law for an embryonic in- 
sect or animal to reproduce another creature like 
itself. The tadpole must develop to the frog be- 
fore it can reproduce itself. Could the embryonic 
human monkey give birth to another embryonic 
monkey before it reached the human plane? No 
more than a child of one day could give birth to 
another child, for eggs do not mature in embryos. 
Admitting man to be the highest type of animal 
life on this earth, nature would have ceased to 
produce those animals that evolve to the human 



62 PLAN OF CREATION 

plane the moment she could no longer lift them 
to this plane. Is this not a self-evident fact? In 
accord with the Darwin idea of evolution, the hu- 
man mother could not give birth to a human 
child, but to the lowest order of animal in that 
line of evolution and this would have to come up 
to the human plane through all these changes of 
form, as the caterpillar to the butterfly, the tad- 
pole to the frog. 

If all chickens died in the shell, and all worms 
in the cocoon or chrysalis state, there would be no 
chickens or worms. If the lower animal ever did 
in the history of creation evolve to the human 
plane along physical lines, it would continue to 
do so today, or cease to be, for it could not stop 
on its way and reproduce its type. The claim that 
we have passed the point in the tree of evolution 
where lower animal forms evolve to the human 
plane, denies the fact that we have as low forms 
of animal life on earth today as at any time in the 
past, and the further fact that nothing can re- 
produce itself in the middle state of growth. A 
law can only lose its power to act when there is no 
longer any material for it to act upon. 

Nature has cast the animal in a fixed mold, and 
though we may modify the type to a slight de- 
gree by crossing and interbreeding, this can be 
done only to a slight degree. The mare will breed 
from the jack, but the offspring will be barren. 
Climate may modify a type to some extent, but 
only so slightly that even the untrained eye can 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 63 

detect the species of such, if the mother type be 
known. Notwithstanding the great varieties of 
breeds in the hog family, a hog is always a hog 
and can never be mistaken for anything else; the 
mule is distinctly a member of the horse family 
and could never be mistaken for a cow or other 
animal. Moreover, cross-breeding can only occur 
between those animals that mature the foetus in 
the same period of time. 

That the monkey should resemble the man, or 
the man the monkey ought not to mislead us, since 
one God and one nature created them both. The 
watch resembles in some respects a saw mill, yet 
there are always enough points of difference to 
distinguish the one from the other. Their resem- 
blances are due to the fact man shaped them both 
and the still more significant fact that circles and 
straight lines are everywhere the same. Since 
the lower animal is satisfied with its type or form, 
it can not rise above this form along physical 
lines. Man himself can conceive of no higher 
form than he bears, and he has no desire to be 
different than he is. In the cow, horse, dog, etc., 
nature is perfectly satisfied with herself and her 
work, for she can look at them through no other 
eyes than their own. In man she is satisfied as to 
outward form, but must see great room for mental 
improvement, for here she has more highly de- 
veloped faculties through which to study her 
product. Man may evolve to the very highest 
planes of thought, but he can not change his form 



64 PLAN OF CREATION 

to one of higher type than he bears, for we are 
created in "the image of God," and His form is 
perfect. Nor can the lower animal send its off- 
spring to a higher type than it has itself reached. 

Man by his thinking could not change his form, 
though by mental inactivity his form and fea- 
tures may grow to be less perfect than now. It 
is because of mental unrest that man develops his 
mental powers. Man is by nature fitted for high 
mental attainments, for through his unfolding 
faculties the organized life within him sees higher 
mental planes and desires to attain them. But in 
the lower forms of animal life this is not true. 
The'young animal of a few months knows about 
as much as it will ever know. Beyond the desire 
to obtain its food and protect itself from enemies, 
the lower animal has no desire to go. External 
stimulus impels man forward, though it is by in- 
ternal effort alone that he can climb, for nature 
has endowed him with faculties that reach from 
earth to heaven. 

The power to evolve comes through and from 
the mental faculties, and the lower forms of an- 
imal life have no desire to evolve for they can see 
no reason for it. Man himself will not evolve to 
higher mental planes unless he himself desires to 
do so, for mental growth can not be forced. The 
dog may be taught a few "tricks," but the dog 
will stop where you leave him and the "tricks" 
are habits, not desires. 

The thought in the minds of some of the evolu- 



OR SWOED OF TEUTH 65 

tionists that man evoluted from the fish, doubtless 
was suggested by the fact that the human embryo 
at one stage of development resembles a fish in 
some measure. But once the reason for this re- 
semblance is known, the suggestion loses all the 
force it can have. The brain and spinal column 
are the first to form in both the lower animal and 
human child. And the reason for this is that the 
organism is controlled through brain centers, and 
the spinal column conveys the nerves to the differ- 
ent parts of the body. The brain and spinal col- 
umn must therefore take form first. The brain 
end of this tail-like column must of necessity re- 
semble the fish in some measure, but this resem- 
blance gives us no reason at all to suppose that 
man evoluted from the fish. 

The rudimentary stage of anything, man, an- 
imal or vegetable, necessarily must differ mate- 
rially from the fully developed organism. It is 
hard to imagine how it could be otherwise. 



66 PLAN OF CEEATION 



THE TWO PLANES— SPIRITUAL AND 
PHYSICAL. 

The external world is but the reflection of the 
internal or mental world. If man had no weeds 
growing in his mind, there would be none found 
growing in his garden. But man does not create 
the weeds in his garden. They are placed there 
by nature to reflect the mental weeds in the hu- 
man race as a whole. 

When all weeds disappear from the mind, na- 
ture will remove them from the physical world. 
The mental and physical worlds evolve together; 
one unfolds with the other. We can not, as some 
imagine, destroy the weeds by refusing to see 
them! We might as reasonably expect to anni- 
hilate the planet upon which we dwell, for one is 
as real as the other. The only way to eradicate 
the weeds in the physical world is by overcoming 
them in the mental; and this can be done only 
by evolution and growth. It is true that we can 
dig the weeds out of our garden, but this will not 
prevent the possibility of their growth. 

To imagine a perfect man on an imperfect 
world is to imagine what can not be. And by the 
term man is meant the race of men; for a perfect 
man as an individual could live on an imperfect 
planet with many other imperfect individuals. 
But this earth would not be his home. Christ was 
a perfect man, as we understand perfection, but 



OK SWOKD OF TRUTH 67 

this earth was not his rightful home. His home 
was with the Father in heaven, and he returned 
to his heavenly home after the resurrection. He 
came to this earth to lead imperfect men out of 
it, and when evolution has done its perfect work, 
the then perfect man will also leave the planet. 
Nature cursed the earth for man's sake, and this, 
means that weeds, insects and animals that are 
at enmity with him were put here so that man 
might develop his mental powers by contending 
with them. There is no doubt but the earth was 
in a far worse condition before the deluge than 
now; vegetation was more rank, reptiles more 
hideous, the forests were slimy and wet. The 
outer world then corresponded with man's low 
state of development, just as it now corresponds 
with his more advanced, yet imperfect state. 

We are now nearing a new order of things, in 
which the physical world will take on an entirely 
new appearance, for we are approaching the time 
when there is to be a "new heaven and a new 
earth." Man is going to wake from his age-long 
sleep, and march forward with new life and hope. 
He is the quickening power in nature; he hastens 
the process of evolution in nature by hastening his 
own unfoldment. "Hasten; come hither, for I can 
do nothing till ye come." Let those who know 
the meaning of this quotation, correct it if wrong- 
ly quoted. 

Man is an epitome of the larger universe; a uni- 
verse in miniature. He can and will express 



68 PLAN OF CREATION 

through his mental operations, everything in the 
physical universe and nothing else. The mind 
holds the same relation to the physical world that 
the flower does to the plant. The unfoldment of 
the flower depends upon the plant. The mind of 
man unfolds from the elements of the physical 
body, which, though not rooted to the earth, 
grows out of it, as truly as the flower or tree. The 
close relation and reaction of the mental and phys- 
ical is referred to in such Scriptures as: "The 
seas and the waves thereof shall roar; for nation 
shall rise against nation, and kingdom against 
kingdom; and there shall be famines and pesti- 
lences and earthquakes in divers places." 

Man is a harp of a thousand strings; nature is 
the musician and whatever impresses us is a fin- 
ger that strikes a cord. Every insect that hums 
and every flower that blooms is a finger to touch 
a cord of the human soul, by impressing itself on 
the mind. The physical body and brain of man 
is a garden in which are planted the seeds of every 
thing that grows, every thing that crawls or flies, 
and of every form and shade of beauty in the uni- 
verse. Each individual is his own gardener. 
Truth grows out of error. Beauty is seen only by 
contrast. 

Were there no cobras and vipers in the human 
family, there would be none in the physical world. 
Were there nothing but beauty, harmony, justice, 
love and mercy in the mind of man, the physical 
world would have advanced to meet this perfect 



OE SWOKD OF TEUTH 69 

order. Every discord in the physical world is 
evidence that there is discord in the human mind. 
The men who "have their price" and the men 
who declare "all have their price" will finally 
disappear and with them every hideous monster 
that haunts the earth. The worst form of evil in 
this world is that form of selfishness that allows 
one to feast while others starve. 

The pains and sufferings of a few, if it were 
possible to keep it confined to narrow limits, 
would not be likely to stir the masses to any ef- 
fort to remove the wrongs that cause such suf- 
fering; it is only when great numbers suffer that 
we see an effort made to modify such suffering. 
The reason for this is that it is no longer possible 
to hide the fact from all eyes. 



70 PLAN OF CREATION 



THE MIND AND ITS FACULTIES. 

We do not think with the brain. We think 
through the brain. The brain has no more power 
to think than has the foot or hand, or even the 
stones under your feet. Concerning the theory 
that "all is mind," the reader will be left to de- 
cide, after a consideration of the statements con- 
tained in this chapter. 

The visible and the tangible are nothing more 
than the lever through which power manifests it- 
self! The lever is itself powerless, but when pow- 
er is applied, it works wonders. The hands and 
arms, feet and legs, are actual levers through 
which mind acts. Even the brain is but a lever 
through which mind acts ; for the brain is not the 
mind, neither has it power to think. 

Mind is a form of expression and an injury to 
the brain affects mind action, as defective keys 
of a musical instrument forbid expression of mu- 
sic through them. Mind, like music, being a form 
of expression, where there is no expression, there 
is no conscious existence. As the music stops 
when the player ceases to perform, the mind 
ceases to express itself when the five senses no 
longer respond to impressions from the outer 
world. 

Mind being a form of expression, there can be 
neither intelligence nor consciousness where there 
is no such expression. Without the power of 



OK SWOED OF TKUTH 71 

speech, we might be judged insane, and without 
the power to express thought through the brain, 
we would be insane; for the mind is rational only 
to the degree that rationality can be expressed. 
We are unconscious of everything except of what 
rises in the mind. "We think words before we ut- 
ter them. Without the memory of past events, 
we would be insane, or without the power of 
thought. So long as the soul, with its faculties, 
is confined in the flesh body, it is dependent upon 
the brain through which it must give expression 
to mind. The fingers, bound in a rigid iron glove, 
could not act upon the separate keys of a piano 
or other musical instrument. 

Music is an expression of melody, while mind 
is an expression of harmony. Where there is no 
melody there is no music. And where there is no 
harmony there can be no mind or conscious recog- 
nition. Music is but one phase of mind, for music 
without mind is inconceivable. We are intelligent 
to the degree that we sense harmony, or recognize 
things in their proper order or right relations in 
nature. Mind is as truly a form of expression as 
running is a form of motion. Mind aside from 
conscious mental expression is as contradictory 
as rest and motion. When we come tc see, as we 
shall further on, the manner in which mind ex- 
presses, the careful reader will see the fallacy in 
the claim that "all is mind." 

The objects we see about us are not mind, but 
the mind receives impressions from these objects 



72 PLAN OF CEEATION 

and the images thus created in the mind are the 
only things that can be recognized by the mind, 
therefore the only true mind expression. 

These mental images are formed out of soul 
substance, and reflect the external universe. The 
soul being one, recognizes its own microscopic 
universe, and through the senses it recognizes the 
larger universe. It is voice calling unto voice. 
The mental universe reflects the external universe, 
its laws and its operations, and it reflects nothing 
more. 

Mind and memory do not cease at physical 
death, for the physical form is but the soil out of 
which the soul grows. The visible form is not 
mind, as the lamp is not the light, nor the wick, 
the oil. Light, like mind, is a form of active ex- 
pression. 

Electric lights are placed on circuits. The mind 
of man is electrical in its nature; it, too, is placed 
on a circuit. The declaration, "Ye are wonderfully 
and fearfully made" is indeed borne out by the 
facts, and was not made without full knowledge 
of the facts. Electricity is life, and man is a bat- 
tery on a circuit. The lamp cut off from the dy- 
namo gives off no light vibrations. A human be- 
ing cut off from two polarities outside of his own 
organism would be equally unable to express any 
degree of mind or intelligence. Mental images 
are produced by breaks in the circuit. Before the 
metal telegraph was invented the mental tele- 
graph was busy sending messages out in space for 



OE SWOED OF TEUTH 73 

millions of miles, yet without knowledge that it 
was doing so. All that we are conscious of is the 
images that rise in the mind, to agree in form and 
color to the external object. With mind, as with 
the telegraph, it is the opening and closing of the 
circuit that causes words, sounds, images and 
mental impressions. 

The flame of the lamp, that appears as a con- 
tinuous flame, is in reality a succession of flames, 
the breaks being as numerous as the vibrations, 
too rapid for us to see. Every flame is but a suc- 
cession of flames. 

The universe and every object in it is polarized 
in the human organism, first in the flesh body, 
afterwards in the soul. Every object in the uni- 
verse is composed of two or more of the sixty-four 
elemental substances. The organism of man com- 
prises in its make-up a measure of all these ele- 
ments. Therefore, man has an answering voice 
to every object in the universe. The "Shakes- 
peare without can only commune with the Shakes- 
peare within." If there be no Shakespeare with- 
in, then there can be no communion, and there- 
fore no knowledge of the outward. All nature is 
stamped on the nerve and brain cells of man. The 
physical world is the voice that calls ever to these 
tiny sparks of life and calls them from their 
prison cells. When these are set free, they are a 
"voice in the ear, a light in the eye, a guide to the 
feet." What other voice or light or guide can 
there be, but the memory of past experience? The 



74 PLAN OF CREATION 

nerve and brain cells hold the tiny sparks of life 
with their astral covering; and the exercise of the 
higher faculties is to "have life and have it more 
abundantly. ' ' These freed sparks of life are the 
written record of the individual life and experi- 
ence. 

In our thoughts we live and move and have our 
being. Every brain organ is polarized in some 
special function or part of the body; hence, when 
a faculty is active-, the corresponding part of the 
body is active, and the soul will develop normally, 
at least in that part of the body. If the higher 
faculties are inactive, the soul will be spotted like 
a leopard, for the soul grows out of the physical 
body like the plant grows out of the soil. If the 
flesh body failed to yield up the soul substance im- 
prisoned in the body and brain cells, there could 
be no soul and no after life. 

Moving Pictures. Those who know the manner 
in which motion pictures are taken, and why they 
appear in motion on the canvas, can from this 
knowledge gain a good idea of the mind and its 
operations. To the observer it appears that the 
picture moves across the canvas, but in reality 
there is thrown on the screen a succession of pic- 
tures, taken in rapid order. As these different 
pictures form and fade on the canvas, the sensa- 
tion of motion is produced. 

With the eyes closed, we may in memory and 
by the power of imagination see a railroad train 
moving at a speed of sixty miles an hour. The 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 75 

explanation of this phenomenon is the same as 
of the motion pictures. Mental images form and 
fade in rapid succession, so that the mind's eye 
is not conscious of the breaks or blanks between 
the forming and fading images. No man ever yet 
saw a material object. Proof of this will be 
brought out under the heading, "What the Cam- 
era Teaches." The mental object gives vibratory 
strength to the mental images while the eyes are 
turned directly on such object. 

Mind Impact or Ego. The mind impact or ego 
is about the size and shape of an ordinary pin, 
such as women use to pin the children's clothes to- 
gether. It is a crystallization and was formed at 
the time matter met at a common center. It is 
here illustrated. It is composed of a 
measure of all the astral substances or 
soul substances, with the elements of 
physical matter cast out. This makes it 
an indestructible link binding the Arch- 
angel, the God-Head and man together, 
in a form no power on earth or in heaven 
can destroy. The soul of man may be destroyed, 
and failure to unfold would foreordain its doom; 
but the mind impact is perfect, and no perfect 
thing can be destroyed, for the perfect is as inde- 
structible as God Himself. 

Electricity to be active must complete a circuit, 
and this was done in the following manner. A 
current shot out from the sun center at the instant 
matter rushed together at that point, and the mil- 




76 PLAN OF CREATION 

lions of these electric tongues flashed to the outer 
rim of the then unorganized universe of matter; 
here these tongues of electric fire doubled back on 
themselves and moved again toward the center. 
A second chain of electric fire shot out from the 
center to meet the incoming currents, and at that 
point of meeting, the ego was formed. The im- 
pact tore the atoms of matter from the grasp of 
the sparks of life with their astral covering, leav- 
ing the ego in its perfect crystallized form. This 
is to the mind what the carbon points are to the 
street lamp. Without it mind expression would 
be impossible. 

The same action takes place when an electric 
current goes out over the wires from a metal dy- 
namo; the current passes over the wire to the 
lamp or return point; from this point and from 
the dynamo, the current rushes to complete the 
circuit. Where there is not sufficient current to do 
this, or where the connections are imperfect, the 
current recoils and returns to the dynamo. 

It is enough to say here that the ego in the God- 
Head and in the Archangel is many times larger 
than in the head of man. These egos form the 
basis of mind, and mind without them is unthink- 
able. The home of the ego is between the eye 
globes, and about one inch above. Around these, 
all mental images form and fade. The ego is the 
seat of the soul's eye. It is here we read and 
know all we shall ever know. 

To explain minutely how the mind works can 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 77 

not be undertaken here. But one of the wonders 
of the mind we will now point out in a brief way, 
and then pass to an array of facts which no one 
may dispute. 

Positive and Negative, or Male and Female. 
The right hemisphere of the brain is positive or 
masculine, while the left hemisphere is negative 
or feminine. Every object in nature has its own 
peculiar rate of vibration; and every object we 
observe must appeal to us in its own rate and no 
other. But to know in what way this appeal 
reaches us or just what takes place in the brain 
and in the mind, is the hidden secret we are now 
looking for. And when it is declared that every 
object has its own peculiar rate of vibration, we 
are to understand from this that this vibratory 
rate will appeal to definite brain centers. It is a 
case of voice calling unto voice, and so we find 
that everything that impresses us through any 
and all of our senses calls a spark of life and soul 
substance from each hemisphere of the brain, a 
spark from the right side being joined by a spark 
from the left in a corresponding division of the 
brain, and these are joined by a spark of life from 
the brain organ known as philoprogenitiveness, 
situated in the lower back head. The spark of 
life from this faculty and brain organ is carried 
forward by the life-thread which enters the brain 
through this faculty. It joins the spark of life 
from the two hemispheres of the brain and moves 
forward to the memory point over the eye globes, 



78 PLAN OF CREATION 

where the mental image takes shape. And this 
is the mental stage of action, where the universe 
without becomes known to us. 

What the Facts of Memory Teach. To remem- 
ber is to combine and reproduce mental images. 
If seeing did not actually take place in the mind, 
there could be no such thing as memory or mind. If 
seeing was done with the eyes instead of through 
them, a blind man would lose all knowledge of 
himself, and might better be dead. He would be 
unable to recall any scenes of the past, any faces, 
forms or colors ; and could have no idea of the ap- 
pearance of any material object. Seeing is a vivid 
form of feeling; the soul, looking out through the 
eyes, feels external objects to be where they are, 
and for very much the same reason that we are 
enabled to locate the seat of pain over crooked 
nerves. Without feeling in some form, knowledge 
of any kind would be absolutely impossible. We 
feel the pain at the point of injury, and we feel it 
over the crooked nerves, as when the legs are bent 
we feel a pain in the foot or toe. We feel objects 
to be where they are, but the feeling is within us, 
and not in the objects we see or feel. We can not 
feel pain in any part of the body except an image 
of such part form in the mind and vibrate in uni- 
son with the part where the pain is felt to be. 

All our senses are but windows to the soul. 
They are not mind, nor even a part of mind. Eyes 
are no more a part of the mind than is the window 
in your house a part of yourself. The soul and the 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 79 

mind never get outside of the physical organism 
until physical death or dissolution. Whoever 
would speak to you must step into your skull, as 
it were, for the mind never leaves its organism, 
and it can not. The mind is the expression of the 
soul, and therefore it is never away from the soul. 
When your friend appears before you, the image 
you behold is formed out of your own soul sub- 
stance and not out of his. Objects seen by us, are 
vibratory points, and these vibrations cause to 
rise in the mind astral images that reflect perfect- 
ly the objects, as the mirror reflects back to you 
your own image. In memory, you see all that you 
ever did see of the object, only less vividly. The 
vibrations from the object make the mental im- 
age stronger. But it does no more than that. 
Memory proves that nothing goes out from us or 
comes to us but vibrations through a great sea of 
life and astral substance. We are parts of a great 
universal whole, hence it is not more strange that 
we see or feel objects at a distance than that we 
feel pain over crooked nerves in our own bodies, 
and are able to locate the seat of pain correctly. 
Pain conveying nerves extend only to the outer 
surface of the individual organism; but the nerves 
of feeling extend to the outer rim of the universe, 
as we may see the most distant star in space, if 
we have a telescope properly constructed. We are 
miniature universes, and the larger universe is re- 
flected in us and through us. The great sea of 
life connects the whole. 



80 PLAN OF CEEATION 

If something actually went out from the mind 
or came back from the object, memory would be 
impossible; the mother would behold a strange 
child, every time she turned her eyes to her own 
offspring. No matter how many times she saw 
her child, she would never be able to recognize it. 
When familiar scenes and faces rise before us in 
the dark hours of night, these images are all we 
ever saw or imagined. To imagine is to form a 
mental image, and this is all that takes place when 
we see an object. To fully understand the mind 
and its workings, is to reveal the whole secrets of 
nature. No such attempt will here be made, but a 
few simple facts stated concerning the mind and 
its operations, in the hope that others may carry 
the investigation further. 

The Phonograph and the Mind. The mind is a 
machine, an organism, as truly as the phonograph 
is a machine or organism, the difference being 
that the one is conscious of what is passing 
through it, and the other is not. An imperfect 
phonograph, or a perfect one with imperfect rec- 
ords will render imperfect music The mind re- 
flects the past history of the individual; and char- 
acter is determined by the perfection of the or- 
ganism, the mental training and environment. 
Things of value can only be obtained by conscious 
effort, and so it is that every ir dividual is con- 
stantly growing more righteous, or less so. If one 
is growing more wicked, he is hastening to the 
time of his repentance, for wickedness is a con- 



OB SWORD OF TRUTH 65 

tionists that man evoluted from the fish, doubtless 
was suggested by the fact that the human embryo 
at one stage of development resembles a fish in 
some measure. But once the reason for this re- 
semblance is known, the suggestion loses all the 
force it can have. The brain and spinal column 
are the first to form in both the lower animal and 
human child. And the reason for this is that the 
organism is controlled through brain centers, and 
the spinal column conveys the nerves to the differ- 
ent parts of the body. The brain and spinal col- 
umn must therefore take form first. The brain 
end of this tail-like column must of necessity re- 
semble the fish in some measure, but this resem- 
blance gives us no reason at all to suppose that 
man evoluted from the fish. 

The rudimentary stage of anything, man, an- 
imal or vegetable, necessarily must differ mate- 
rially from the fully developed organism. It is 
hard to imagine how it could be otherwise. 



66 PLAN OF CREATION 



THE TWO PLANES— SPIRITUAL AND 
PHYSICAL. 

The external world is but the reflection of the 
internal or mental world. If man had no weeds 
growing in his mind, there would be none found 
growing in his garden. But man does not create 
the weeds in his garden. They are placed there 
by nature to reflect the mental weeds in the hu- 
man race as a whole. 

When all weeds disappear from the mind, na- 
ture will remove them from the physical world. 
The mental and physical worlds evolve together; 
one unfolds with the other. We can not, as some 
imagine, destroy the weeds by refusing to see 
them! We might as reasonably expect to anni- 
hilate the planet upon which we dwell, for one is 
as real as the other. The only way to eradicate 
the weeds in the physical world is by overcoming 
them in the mental; and this can be done only 
by evolution and growth. It is true that we can 
dig the weeds out of our garden, but this will not 
prevent the possibility of their growth. 

To imagine a perfect man on an imperfect 
world is to imagine what can not be. And by the 
term man is meant the race of men; for a perfect 
man as an individual could live on an imperfect 
planet with many other imperfect individuals. 
But this earth would not be his home. Christ was 
a perfect man, as we understand perfection, but 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 67 

this earth was not his rightful home. His home 
was with the Father in heaven, and he returned 
to his heavenly home after the resurrection. He 
came to this earth to lead imperfect men out of 
it, and when evolution has done its perfect work, 
the then perfect man will also leave the planet. 
Nature cursed the earth for man's sake, and this 
means that weeds, insects and animals that are 
at enmity with him were put here so that man 
might develop his mental powers by contending 
with them. There is no doubt but the earth was 
in a far worse condition before the deluge than 
now; vegetation was more rank, reptiles more 
hideous, the forests were slimy and wet. The 
outer world then corresponded with man's low 
state of development, just as it now corresponds 
with his more advanced, yet imperfect state. 

We are now nearing a new order of things, in 
which the physical world will take on an entirely 
new appearance, for we are approaching the time 
when there is to be a "new heaven and a new 
earth." Man is going to wake from his age-long 
sleep, and march forward with new life and hope. 
He is the quickening power in nature; he hastens 
the process of evolution in nature by hastening his 
own unfoldment. "Hasten; come hither, for I can 
do nothing till ye come." Let those who know 
the meaning of this quotation, correct it if wrong- 
ly quoted. 

Man is an epitome of the larger universe ; a uni- 
verse in miniature. He can and will express 



68 PLAN OF CREATION 

through his mental operations, everything in the 
physical universe and nothing else. The mind 
holds the same relation to the physical world that 
the flower does to the plant. The unfoldment of 
the flower depends upon the plant. The mind of 
man unfolds from the elements of the physical 
body, which, though not rooted to the earth, 
grows out of it, as truly as the flower or tree. The 
close relation and reaction of the mental and phys- 
ical is referred to in such Scriptures as: "The 
seas and the waves thereof shall roar; for nation 
shall rise against nation, and kingdom against 
kingdom; and there shall be famines and pesti- 
lences and earthquakes in divers places. M 

Man is a harp of a thousand strings; nature is 
the musician and whatever impresses us is a fin- 
ger that strikes a cord. Every insect that hums 
and every flower that blooms is a finger to touch 
a cord of the human soul, by impressing itself on 
the mind. The physical body and brain of man 
is a garden in which are planted the seeds of every 
thing that grows, every thing that crawls or flies, 
and of every form and shade of beauty in the uni- 
verse. Each individual is his own gardener. 
Truth grows out of error. Beauty is seen only by 
contrast. 

Were there no cobras and vipers in the human 
family, there would be none in the physical world. 
Were there nothing but beauty, harmony, justice, 
love and mercy in the mind of man, the physical 
world would ha,ve advanced to meet this perfect 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 69 

order. Every discord in the physical world is 
evidence that there is discord in the human mind. 
The men who "have their price" and the men 
who declare "all have their price " will finally 
disappear and with them every hideous monster 
that haunts the earth. The worst form of evil in 
this world is that form of selfishness that allows 
one to feast while others starve. 

The pains and sufferings of a few, if it were 
possible . to keep it confined to narrow limits, 
would not be likely to stir the masses to any ef- 
fort to remove the wrongs that cause such suf- 
fering; it is only when great numbers suffer that 
we see an effort made to modify such suffering. 
The reason for this is that it is no longer possible 
to hide the fact from all eyes. 



70 PLAN OF CREATION 



THE MIND AND ITS FACULTIES. 

We do not think with the brain. We think 
through the brain. The brain has no more power 
to think than has the foot or hand, or even the 
stones under your feet. Concerning the theory 
that "all is mind," the reader will be left to de- 
cide, after a consideration of the statements con- 
tained in this chapter. 

The visible and the tangible are nothing more 
than the lever through which power manifests it- 
self. The lever is itself powerless, but when pow- 
er is applied, it works wonders. The hands and 
arms, feet and legs, are actual levers through 
which mind acts. Even the brain is but a lever 
through which mind acts; for the brain is not the 
mind, neither has it power to think. 

Mind is a form of expression and an injury to 
the brain affects mind action, as defective keys 
of a musical instrument forbid expression of mu- 
sic through them. Mind, like music, being a form 
of expression, where there is no expression, there 
is no conscious existence. As the music stops 
when the player ceases to perform, the mind 
ceases to express itself when the five senses no 
longer respond to impressions from the outer 
world. 

Mind being a form of expression, there can be 
neither intelligence nor consciousness where there 
is no such expression. Without the power of 



OK SWORD OF TKUTH 71 

speech, we might be judged insane, and without 
the power to express thought through the brain, 
we would be insane; for the mind is rational only 
to the degree that rationality can be expressed. 
We are unconscious of everything except of what 
rises in the mind. We think words before we ut- 
ter them. Without the memory of past events, 
we would be insane, or without the power of 
thought. So long as the soul, with its faculties, 
is confined in the flesh body, it is dependent upon 
the brain through which it must give expression 
to mind. The fingers, bound in a rigid iron glove, 
could not act upon the separate keys of a piano 
or other musical instrument. 

Music is an expression of melody, while mind 
is an expression of harmony. Where there is no 
melody there is no music. And where there is no 
harmony there can be no mind or conscious recog- 
nition. Music is but one phase of mind, for music 
without mind is inconceivable. We are intelligent 
to the degree that we sense harmony, or recognize 
things in their proper order or right relations in 
nature. Mind is as truly a form of expression as 
running is a form of motion. Mind aside from 
conscious mental expression is as contradictory 
as rest and motion. When we come tc see, as we 
shall further on, the manner in which mind ex- 
presses, the careful reader will see the fallacy in 
the claim that "all is mind." 

The objects we see about us are not mind, but 
the mind receives impressions from these objects 



72 PLAN OF CREATION 

and the images thus created in the mind are the 
only things that can be recognized by the mind, 
therefore the only true mind expression. 

These mental images are formed out of soul 
substance, and reflect the external universe. The 
soul being one, recognizes its own microscopic 
universe, and through the senses it recognizes the 
larger universe. It is voice calling unto voice. 
The mental universe reflects the external universe, 
its laws and its operations, and it reflects nothing 
more. 

Mind and memory do not cease at physical 
death, for the physical form is but the soil out of 
which the soul grows. The visible form is not 
mind, as the lamp is not the light, nor the wick, 
the oil. Light, like mind, is a form of active ex- 
pression. 

Electric lights are placed on circuits. The mind 
of man is electrical in its nature; it, too, is placed 
on a circuit. The declaration, "Ye are wonderfully 
and fearfully made" is indeed borne out by the 
facts, and was not made without full knowledge 
of the facts. Electricity is life, and man is a bat- 
tery on a circuit. The lamp cut off from the dy- 
namo gives off no light vibrations. A human be- 
ing cut off from two polarities outside of his own 
organism would be equally unable to express any 
degree of mind or intelligence. Mental images 
are produced by breaks in the circuit. Before the 
metal telegraph was invented the mental tele- 
graph was busy sending messages out in space for 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 73 

millions of miles, yet without knowledge that it 
was doing so. All that we are conscious of is the 
images that rise in the mind, to agree in form and 
color to the external object. With mind, as with 
the telegraph, it is the opening and closing of the 
circuit that causes words, sounds, images and 
mental impressions. 

The flame of the lamp, that appears as a con- 
tinuous flame, is in reality a succession of flames, 
the breaks being as numerous as the vibrations, 
too rapid for us to see. Every flame is but a suc- 
cession of flames. 

The universe and every object in it is polarized 
in the human organism, first in the flesh body, 
afterwards in the soul. Every object in the uni- 
verse is composed of two or more of the sixty-four 
elemental substances. The organism of man com- 
prises in its make-up a measure of all these ele- 
ments. Therefore, man has an answering voice 
to every object in the universe. The " Shakes- 
peare without can only commune with the Shakes- 
peare within." If there be no Shakespeare with- 
in, then there can be no communion, and there- 
fore no knowledge of the outward. All nature is 
stamped on the nerve and brain cells of man. The 
physical world is the voice that calls ever to these 
tiny sparks of life and calls them from their 
prison cells. When these are set free, they are a 
"voice in the ear, a light in the eye, a guide to the 
feet." What other voice or light or guide can 
there be, but the memory of past experience? The 



74 PLAN OF CREATION 

nerve and brain cells hold the tiny sparks of life 
with their astral covering; and the exercise of the 
higher faculties is to "have life and have it more 
abundantly.' ' These freed sparks of life are the 
written record of the individual life and experi- 
ence. 

In our thoughts we live and move and have our 
being. Every brain organ is polarized in some 
special function or part of the body; hence, when 
a faculty is active, the corresponding part of the 
body is active, and the soul will develop normally, 
at least in that part of the body. If the higher 
faculties are inactive, the soul will be spotted like 
a leopard, for the soul grows out of the physical 
body like the plant grows out of the soil. If the 
flesh body failed to yield up the soul substance im- 
prisoned in the body and brain cells, there could 
be no soul and no after life. 

Moving Pictures. Those who know the manner 
in which motion pictures are taken, and why they 
appear in motion on the canvas, can from this 
knowledge gain a good idea of the mind and its 
operations. To the observer it appears that the 
picture moves across the canvas, but in reality 
there is thrown on the screen a succession of pic- 
tures, taken in rapid order. As these different 
pictures form and fade on the canvas, the sensa- 
tion of motion is produced. 

With the eyes closed, we may in memory and 
by the power of imagination see a railroad train 
moving at a speed of sixty miles an hour. The 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 75 

explanation of this phenomenon is the same as 
of the motion pictures. Mental images form and 
fade in rapid succession, so that the mind's eye 
is not conscious of the breaks or blanks between 
the forming and fading images. No man ever yet 
saw a material object. Proof of this will be 
brought out under the heading, "What the Cam- 
era Teaches.' ' The mental object gives vibratory 
strength to the mental images while the eyes are 
turned directly on such object. 

Mind Impact or Ego. The mind impact or ego 
is about the size and shape of an ordinary pin, 
such as women use to pin the children's clothes to- 
gether. It is a crystallization and was formed at 
the time matter met at a common center. It is 
here illustrated. It is composed of a 
measure of all the astral substances or 
soul substances, with the elements of 
physical matter cast out. This makes it 
an indestructible link binding the Arch- 
angel, the God-Head and man together, 
in a form no power on earth or in heaven 
can destroy. The soul of man may be destroyed, 
and failure to unfold would foreordain its doom; 
but the mind impact is perfect, and no perfect 
thing can be destroyed, for the perfect is as inde- 
structible as God Himself. 

Electricity to be active must complete a circuit, 
and this was done in the following manner. A 
current shot out from the sun center at the instant 
matter rushed together at that point, and the mil- 




76 PLAN OF CREATION 

lions of these electric tongues flashed to the outer 
rim of the then unorganized universe of matter; 
here these tongues of electric fire doubled back on 
themselves and moved again toward the center. 
A second chain of electric fire shot out from the 
center to meet the incoming currents, and at that 
point of meeting, the ego was formed. The im- 
pact tore the atoms of matter from the grasp of 
the sparks of life with their astral covering, leav- 
ing the ego in its perfect crystallized form. This 
is to the mind what the carbon points are to the 
street lamp. Without it mind expression would 
be impossible. 

The same action takes place when an electric 
current goes out over the wires from a metal dy- 
namo; the current passes over the wire to the 
lamp or return point; from this point and from 
the dynamo, the current rushes to complete the 
circuit. Where there is not sufficient current to do 
this, or where the connections are imperfect, the 
current recoils and returns to the dynamo. 

It is enough to say here that the ego in the God- 
Head and in the Archangel is many times larger 
than in the head of man. These egos form the 
basis of mind, and mind without them is unthink- 
able. The home of the ego is between the eye 
globes, and about one inch above. Around these, 
all mental images form and fade. The ego is the 
seat of the soul's eye. It is here we read and 
know all we shall ever know. 

To explain minutely how the mind works can 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 77 

not be undertaken here. But one of the wonders 
of the mind we will now point out in a brief way, 
and then pass to an array of facts which no one 
may dispute. 

Positive and Negative, or Male and Female. 
The right hemisphere of the brain is positive or 
masculine, while the left hemisphere is negative 
or feminine. Every object in nature has its own 
peculiar rate of vibration; and every object we 
observe must appeal to us in its own rate and no 
other. But to know in what way this appeal 
reaches us or just what takes place in the brain 
and in the mind, is the hidden secret we are now 
looking for. And when it is declared that every 
object has its own peculiar rate of vibration, we 
are to understand from this that this vibratory 
rate will appeal to definite brain centers. It is a 
case of voice calling unto voice, and so we find 
that everything that impresses us through any 
and all of our senses calls a spark of life and soul 
substance from each hemisphere of the brain, a 
spark from the right side being joined by a spark 
from the left in a corresponding division of the 
brain, and these are joined by a spark of life from 
the brain organ known as philoprogenitiveness, 
situated in the lower back head. The spark of 
life from this faculty and brain organ is carried 
forward by the life-thread which enters the brain 
through this faculty. It joins the spark of life 
from the two hemispheres of the brain and moves 
forward to the memory point over the eye globes, 



78 PLAN OF CREATION 

where the mental image takes shape. And this 
is the mental stage of action, where the universe 
without becomes known to us. 

What the Facts of Memory Teach. To remem- 
ber is to combine and reproduce mental images. 
If seeing did not actually take place in the mind, 
there could be no such thing as memory or mind. If 
seeing was done with the eyes instead of through 
them, a blind man would lose all knowledge of 
himself, and might better be dead. He would be 
unable to recall any scenes of the past, any faces, 
forms or colors ; and could have no idea of the ap- 
pearance of any material object. Seeing is a vivid 
form.of feeling; the soul, looking out through the 
eyes, feels external objects to be where they are, 
and for very much the same reason that we are 
enabled to locate the seat of pain over crooked 
nerves. Without feeling in some form, knowledge 
of any kind would be absolutely impossible. We 
feel the pain at the point of injury, and we feel it 
over the crooked nerves, as when the legs are bent 
we feel a pain in the foot or toe. We feel objects 
to be where they are, but the feeling is within us, 
and not in the objects we see or feel. We can not 
feel pain in any part of the body except an image 
of such part form in the mind and vibrate in uni- 
son with the part where the pain is felt to be. 

All our senses are but windows to the soul. 
They are not mind, nor even a part of mind. Eyes 
are no more a part of the mind than is the window 
in your house a part of yourself. The soul and the 



OE SWOKD OF TRUTH 79 

mind never get outside of the physical organism 
until physical death or dissolution. Whoever 
would speak to you must step into your skull, as 
it were, for the mind never leaves its organism, 
and it can not. The mind is the expression of the 
soul, and therefore it is never away from the soul. 
When your friend appears before you, the image 
you behold is formed out of your own soul sub- 
stance and not out of his. Objects seen by us, are 
vibratory points, and these vibrations cause to 
rise in the mind astral images that reflect perfect- 
ly the objects, as the mirror reflects back to you 
your own image. In memory, you see all that you 
ever did see of the object, only less vividly. The 
vibrations from the object make the mental im- 
age stronger. But it does no more than that. 
Memory proves that nothing goes out from us or 
comes to us but vibrations through a great sea of 
life and astral substance. We are parts of a great 
universal whole, hence it is not more strange that 
we see or feel objects at a distance than that we 
feel pain over crooked nerves in our own bodies, 
and are able to locate the seat of pain correctly. 
Pain conveying nerves extend only to the outer 
surface of the individual organism; but the nerves 
of feeling extend to the outer rim of the universe, 
as we may see the most distant star in space, if 
we have a telescope properly constructed. We are 
miniature universes, and the larger universe is re- 
flected in us and through us. The great sea of 
life connects the whole. 



80 PLAN OF CEEATION 

If something actually went out from the mind 
or came back from the object, memory would be 
impossible; the mother would behold a strange 
child, every time she turned her eyes to her own 
offspring. No matter how many times she saw 
her child, she would never be able to recognize it. 
When familiar scenes and faces rise before us in 
the dark hours of night, these images are all we 
ever saw or imagined. To imagine is to form a 
mental image, and this is all that takes place when 
we see an object. To fully understand the mind 
and its workings, is to reveal the whole secrets of 
nature. No such attempt will here be made, but a 
few simple facts stated concerning the mind and 
its operations, in the hope that others may carry 
the investigation further. 

The Phonograph and the Mind. The mind is a 
machine, an organism, as truly as the phonograph 
is a machine or organism, the difference being 
that the one is conscious of what is passing 
through it, and the other is not. An imperfect 
phonograph, or a perfect one with imperfect rec- 
ords will render imperfect music. The mind re- 
flects the past history of the individual; and char- 
acter is determined by the perfection of the or- 
ganism, the mental training and environment. 
Things of value can only be obtained by conscious 
effort, and so it is that every individual is con- 
stantly growing more righteous, or less so. If one 
is growing more wicked, he is hastening to the 
time of his repentance, for wickedness is a con- 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 81 

suming fire. If one is growing less wicked, then 
lie is hastening to the day of his salvation. Na- 
ture has her price fixed on happiness, and all must 
pay the price, which is the same to all. Nature 
does not discriminate. She knows the value of 
her jewels and she means to make them all per- 
fect. We have our work to do. God can not think 
for us. We must think for ourselves, and how and 
what we think determines whether we shall be 
happy or miserable. 

What the Camera Teaches. In photographing 
any object or person with a camera, the film does 
not jump out of the camera box and fly to such 
object to get the impression that way. We know 
equally well that objects to be photographed do 
not pass into the camera box. But light vibra- 
tions act on the sensitized film, leaving an im- 
pression of the object there. These light vibra- 
tions dry up some of the chemicals on the film, 
more in some places, less in others, and the result- 
ing lights and shades give us a picture of the ob- 
ject thus photographed. From the camera we 
learn something of the nature of taking pictures 
of objects that come before our eyes. As with the 
camera, so with mind and memory. 

The Seventh Sense. The imagination is the 
seventh and highest sense in man. It is the im- 
age former and is the faculty that makes mind 
possible. It pictures all the objects that come be- 
fore us, and from these it makes new ones and new 
combinations. It is the historian and the inventor 



82 PLAN OF CEEATION 

in man; it is the picture gallery where we go to 
review the past. It unites the present with the 
past. 

The sixth sense is wonderful in many ways, but 
is not on as high a plane as the seventh. It is 
through the sixth sense that "sensitives" read 
the mental messages of distant friends. It is the 
sixth sense that enables hypnotic subjects to read 
the backs of cards, and to decipher messages in 
sealed envelopes. And it is the sixth sense that 
enables lower animals to guide themselves back 
to their homes and to their young. We are as so 
many street lamps ; the mind is the flame we see, 
the Current is forever flowing through us, and like 
the current in the lamp, it must return to its start- 
ing point. 

Prejudice. The mind can no more arrive at 
correct conclusions along lines where there is an 
element of prejudice than it can work out math- 
ematical problems by ignoring mathematical 
rules. The mind must desire to know only that 
which is true. It must not seek to bolster up 
falsehood to look like the truth, for even though 
this deceives others, it does not deceive yourself. 
You will know at what point you turned from that 
which looked more like the truth. 

Prejudice is all that stands between mankind 
and a much fuller knowledge of the truth. A rift 
in this cloud of prejudice will reveal God and 
His plans and purposes to the human race. Here 
the so-called believer and the doubter stand equal- 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 83 

ly condemned in their own conscience, for neither 
will accept a suggestion from the other, and 
neither will acknowledge that the other has any 
truth on his side. One is no less stubborn than 
the other nor less blind than the other. Each one 
of us has some truth. But we do not obey the 
Divine injunction, "Hear all sides, hold fast that 
which seemeth good," for had we done this, the 
world would today be much further advanced in 
civilization than it is, and there would not be a 
hungry human being upon the planet, and not one 
in actual want of any necessary thing. Let there 
be rifts in the cloud of prejudice. 

If thoughts came to us like birds lighting in 
trees (some teach this doctrine), we would have 
no memory of them after they flew away. 
Thought stimulus comes from without, but the 
images rise within, and are therefore a part of our 
own organism. That thoughts can flow to us from 
without is impossible. The time will come when 
it will be an inspiration to listen to the words of 
any adult member of the human race. When that 
time arrives, man will be able to "think God's 
thoughts over after Him." Prejudice will then 
have lost its power over the human mind. All na- 
ture is to be revealed through the minds of the 
members of the human family, and in that day all 
will be Edisons, and will be looking and watch- 
ing anxiously for the new ideas and new inven- 
tions which will in that day come almost as thick 
and fast as snow flakes. Each human being rep- 



84 PLAN OF CREATION 

resents a book of revelations and in the better 
day, which is fast approaching, these human 
books of revelation will be in every community, 
and finally all will be active and yielding up their 
fruit, as nature intends that we shall. 

Mind Not a Substance. The founder of what is 
known as the "Substantial Philosophy,' ' ex- 
plained light, heat, sound, mind, etc., upon the 
theory that each is a substance by itself. But this 
explanation, though apparently very simple, is 
not satisfactory. To call these various forms of 
expression different substances, is a child's ex- 
planation. The volume of memory is the volume 
of the soul, the sum total of life, for it is the meas- 
ure of all experience. It is the written pages of 
the book of life. The unwritten pages remain im- 
prisoned in the brain and nerve cells of the phys- 
ical organism. The soul, though composed of 
sixty-four elemental substances, the life principle 
is one indivisible substance. This substance is 
the sprit of God, and is the spirit and life of man, 
for it alone is life, and life alone is power. Life 
only can have power to move and act, and this in- 
divisible life substance is the molder and the 
builder, for "every house hath a builder, and God 
is the builder of the universe," for this indivisi- 
ble spirit is God and it is electrical in its nature. 

Vibrational Rates, or Cause and Effect. The 
soul through the eyes takes pictures of every ob- 
ject the eyes rest on, even for the briefest period 
of time; and though apparently not remembered, 



OE SWORD OF TEUTH 85 

sometime these memory impressions will rise in 
answer to the right voice. Every voice is a rate 
of vibration, and the rate of vibration is deter- 
mined by the nature of the substance, through 
which the life substance is compelled to move. 
There is not white, red, green or blue light, for 
light is an effect, not a substance that exists as 
such. The nature and density of the substance 
through which light comes to us determines the 
rate and force of the vibration, and therefore the 
color of light is red or green or blue, depending 
upon the substance or material it must pass 
through in coming to us. The hard knot will al- 
most bring the circular saw to a stop, while soft 
wood allows it to revolve rapidly. Vibrations do 
not determine the nature of substances, though 
substances do determine the rates of vibration. 
We should not be misled by appearances. The 
sun looks red, when seen through red glass or 
smoke and the hard knot will slacken the speed of 
the saw, but we are not misled as to the reason in 
either case. 

Our lives are like chapters in books. Each 
chapter is given over to some special part of the 
subject; and so our lives are divided into varying 
experiences. In one set of experiences, the inci- 
dents of another are not vivid. But as the first 
pages of a book may be even less dim than the last 
pages, so the impressions of childhood may be 
even more vividly stamped on the mind than those 
of later years. It is a matter of joining the mem- 



86 PLAN OF CREATION 

ory links, one to another. To recall the farmhouse 
of long ago is to call to mind the other buildings, 
the scenes, and faces of old acquaintance. Each 
new impression modifies our normal rates of vi- 
bration; we are not the same being for two days 
in succession. Every day nature stamps us with 
new impressions. 

The rates of vibration in the soul of a deep 
thinker and active worker are much higher than 
in the numb-skull and plodder, because activity 
sets free a greater quantity of astral or soul sub- 
stance. Thought releases the imprisoned sparks 
o£ life from the brain and body cells, and this re- 
leased substance is not under the power of grav- 
ity, which is the power of death. Gravity acts 
only upon physical matter. It has power over the 
soul only so long as the soul substance is confined 
in brain and body cells. All impressions are writ- 
ten in the indelible substance of the soul, and can- 
not be erased. Memory is not written on the 
brain, though it must express through the brain 
so long as the soul remains in the flesh body. 

The Complete Circuit. When the eyes are 
turned to any object, light waves from such ob- 
ject cause an image to form on the retina lining 
the eye-globes; the circuit is completed through 
the optic nerves and down from the ego point to 
the eye-globes. At the ego or memory point a 
single image is formed from those in the eye- 
globes, and it is this image the mind observes. 
When one eye is destroyed, the power of seeing 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 87 

remains, though weakened, for the reason that the 
induction coil completes the circuit through the 
lifeless eye, forming the image above and between 
the eye-globes as before. When both eyes are de- 
stroyed, the circuit is not broken through the eye- 
sockets, and memory images rise as before, for 
the law can not be defeated, though it may be 
crippled in the organism. 

Memory proves that seeing is not done in the 
eye-globes, but through them. It is well to bear 
this fact in mind. The blind could not call to 
memory an image of the face or faces of those 
near and dear, unless sight takes place in the mind 
instead of in the eyes. 

The expenditure of nerve energy is the price of 
a physical act; while the explosion of brain and 
nerve cells is the price of a mental act. A number 
of cells disappear in the brain and organism, to 
reappear in the soul as a new memory or a new 
experience. 

The Conscious Plane. It is not necessary that 
mind recognition accompany or precede an act of 
nature, in order that the act may be well done. 
Nature performs most of her work while the mind 
sleeps. The bullet from the rifle needs no eye to 
guide it, nor the river a hand to direct its course, 
but it is conscious recognition of the beauties and 
wonders of nature that makes it worth while to 
have a universe. The enjoyment comes from con- 
scious recognition of what has been done and 
what is being done. Even in our own organisms 



88 PLAN OF CREATION 

much takes place that is not consciously observed, 
and mind is not present in greater degree else- 
where in nature. The river flows on in its channel 
unconsciously, and it is better so. The bullet is 
carried forward by the law of momentum, and it 
needs no other guide. Though in the perfect 
state, the mind will not sleep in the angel as it 
does not now sleep in the God-Head. The sleep- 
ing takes place in the current as it passes from 
planet to planet arid back to the God-Head, as it 
now passes through our organisms, for sleep is 
not death or inactivity, but merely absence of 
conscious recognition. And absence of conscious 
recognition is merely the phonograph running 
with the record removed. The life current is 
never inactive. The blood circulates more evenly 
when we are least conscious of its flow. 

Cause of Sleep. Sleep is a quiescent state of 
mind, a closing of the faculties, brought about by 
the drying up of the nerve fluids of the body, at 
least in the outer extremities of the nerves. This 
fluid is to the mind and muscular power of the 
body what steam is to the engine, and what chem- 
icals are to the film upon which a picture is to be 
photographed. The blood continues to circulate 
in all parts of the body during sleep, in the brain 
as well as in the body, but mind expression is ab- 
sent. 

The nerve fluid renders the nerves of sensation 
sensitive to light and sound waves, and to the 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 89 

world around us through any and all of our phys- 
ical senses. 

During the hours of mental and physical action 
this nerve fluid is burnt up or decomposed, leav- 
ing the outer ends of the nerves dry, and render- 
ing them unable to convey nature's messages to 
us. As every revolution of the engine calls for an 
expenditure of steam, so does every act, whether 
mental or physical, call for an expenditure of 
nerve fluid. For it is this fluid that makes brain 
and nerve cells sensitive, though it does not be- 
come a part of the organism, nor of the soul and 
mind. It is the steam that runs the organism, in- 
cluding mental operations, and it is nothing more. 
Like steam, it escapes as fast as consumed or con- 
verted to force in action. The internal world is 
active because the external world is bombarding 
one or more of the five physical senses through 
vibratory action. After the outer ends of the 
nerves become dry and unimpressionable, mental 
operations cease for want of outside stimulus. 
And thus the reason for not being over-particular 
about what we eat, for what we eat is not incor- 
porated in the soul. The soul remains in this 
quiescent state till sufficient fluid has been manu- 
factured from the blood to recharge the nerves, 
when mental operations resume. The recharging 
of the nerves with the battery or nerve fluid, be- 
gins at the inner ends of the nerves and continues 
outward. When recharging is complete, sleep is 
impossible. The fluid is consumed from the outer 



90 PLAN OF CREATION 

ends of the nerves inward, and this continues un- 
til the outer world is dead to us. Even in dreams, 
some parts of the brain and some of the senses are 
awake, for in sound sleep there is no mental action 
at all. That sleep is due to the drying up of nerve 
fluids ought to be apparent to any one, for do we 
not see this law illustrated in the telegraph plant 1 
When the battery fluids become low or weak, no 
messages can be sent over the wires. The life 
thread that connects us with nature through the 
God-Head does not animate our physical bodies; 
this, must come from the food taken into the stom- 
ach, and the air breathed into the lungs. The life 
thread makes it possible to reason and to think, 
but it can not take the place of food or air. The 
photographer can not take pictures on dry plates. 
Nor can the life thread animate dried up brain 
and nerve cells. 

This is not meant to furnish a complete explana- 
tion of the mind and its operations. The outer 
shell of truth has been broken, and in a few cases 
removed. But there are numerous inner shells yet 
to be removed, before the full truth is revealed. 
The first step is important, because it leads to the 
next. 

The Three Centers. The office of the mind is to 
think, the centers of feeling being located in other 
parts of the organism. The heart, lungs and sex 
organs are the three mental centers of feeling, and 
the only parts of the body that respond to mental 
impressions, by a distinct sense of feeling in these 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 91 

parts themselves. Here alone do we feel the pow- 
er of hatred, revenge, love, joy and emotion. Take 
away the power of feeling from these centers and 
man would be reduced to a cold calculating ma- 
chine, without feeling, sentiment or modesty. 
The only sensation that can be felt in other parts 
of the body is the feeling of pain or pressure and 
the sense of touch. 

God's Voice Within. The voice of God in the 
soul or individual is a soul faculty, and it is sit- 
uated in the upper top-head just under the faculty 
of firmness; the name of this faculty is Conscien- 
tiousness. With this faculty active, the individ- 
ual is safe as a moral being within the limits of 
his understanding. The faculty of firmness is 
placed over this faculty and in close touch with 
it, seemingly, that it may give power of decision 
in all matters where conscience is to be consulted. 
Of course, it must be borne in mind that the soul 's 
faculties live, move and have their power of ex- 
pression through brain organs, so long as the soul 
remains in the physical body. 

Where this faculty is wholly inactive, the indi- 
vidual is as dangerous and unreliable as a lower 
animal, providing, of course, the animal faculties 
combativeness and destructiveness are strong and 
active. With conscientiousness weak, and the an- 
imal faculties strong, such individual is not open 
to moral suasion. We can do no better than live 
in obedience to this voice within, guided by the 
best light at our command. We could not as in- 



92 PLAN OF CEEATION 

dividuals be expected to be guided by the con- 
science of others, unless this be in perfect agree- 
ment with onr own conscience. He who refuses 
to obey his conscience will find himself moving to- 
ward the animal plane. 

Telegraphy. Telegraphic messages are not con- 
veyed by the current passing rapidly over the 
wires, but by opening and closing the circuit. 
The same principle illustrated in sending mes- 
sages across continents, over wires to distant 
points, is illustrated in mind action. Every men- 
tal a£t causes a break in the circuit. It is the 
breaks in the current, and not the undisturbed 
flow of it, that enables messages to be transmitted 
by wire. It is the breaks in the current at the car- 
bon points that produces the light. In the case of 
mental messages, so nearly instantaneous is the 
process that we need not spend any energy esti- 
mating the time required to complete the circuit. 
It is much as though a rod of rigid steel extended 
from earth to a fixed star, the intervening space 
being a perfect vacuum, thus assuring us that 
there is no friction. Distance is not a factor, for 
in interplanetary space, there can be no friction 
whatever, as will be brought out in a subsequent 
chapter. 

Force applied to one end of our steel rod pass- 
ing through an absolute vacuum, will be instantly 
carried to the opposite end. A shove on one end, 
produces a like motion at the other, without loss 
of time in transit. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 93 

Lower Animal and Intelligence. The lower an- 
imal is not intelligent for the reason that its soul 
faculties are not developed; its soul must be trans- 
planted to better soil, before a high degree of in- 
telligence can be manifested or expressed. In 
man we find a much fuller expression of mind. 
The weak faculties in one, may be, and often are, 
the strong faculties in another. In the lower an- 
imal we find but a trace of the intellectual and 
moral faculties, too weak to manifest at all. 
Mind is measured by its power of manifestation, 
not by its quantity or volume as a stream of water. 
Mind is the soul's power of manifestation, and 
not the soul itself. The soul may exist and yet 
possess little power to manifest intelligence. 
Wood is not heat, though it has within it the pos- 
sibility of manifesting heat. Wood, through the 
action of combustion, gives off heat. This it does 
by liberating static electricity, and similarly the 
action of the mind liberates or sets free the tiny 
sparks of life bound in brain and nerve cells. Static 
electricity is that which is held bound in wood, 
coal and other combustible material. When re- 
leased, it becomes active. It exists in the cells of 
our bodies, in a similar state, and when released 
by mental action it joins the free soul ocean of ex- 
pressive life. Combustion is impossible in mate- 
rial that has no live atoms in it. Were there no 
live atoms to draw from, there could be no new 
growths, for static electricity is that part of the 
life current that is still bound to the material 



94 PLAN OF CREATION 

atom. Even the flesh body after the soul leaves 
it contains live cells, and therefore static elec- 
tricity, but this does not belong to the soul. An 
atom of matter without an atmosphere would be 
the same as a planet without an atmosphere. It 
would be dead. Our atmosphere and the waters 
of the earth are composed entirely of live atoms. 
Growth will cease the moment there are no more 
live atoms to draw from, and just as a planet 
would cease to have life, heat and light if it lost 
its atmosphere. 

The soul is not mind, but an instrument, a ves- 
sel. Bearing in mind always the fact that mind 
is a form of expression, not a thing or substance 
as such, it is not difficult to understand that mind 
must express through an instrument, a vessel, 
as the power of steam must express through the 
engine of iron or steel. Man is made in the im- 
age of the God-Head form, and is destined to be- 
come as perfect as the Father. Xo power can de- 
feat this perfect ultimate. As in the Father, so 
in the Son, and in all Sons. That nature first cre- 
ated her architect or expressive head, and then 
worked through this expressive head, is not one 
whit more wonderful or harder to understand, 
than that she is now creating man and through 
him is building houses and cities. TTe have but a 
faint understanding of how nature does this, but 
one of the facts is plainly evident, and the one fact 
points to the other. 

Nature acts through faculties and functions, 



OE SWORD OF TEUTH 95 

never promiscuously, or in a haphazard manner. 
She acts from definite centers and produces defi- 
nite results. She grows the oak from the acorn 
and she grows the organism from mental facul- 
ties, or rather, by acting through them. 

The Will. The will may be said to be the main- 
spring of the mind, while the faculty known as 
Causality may be said to be the eye of the mind. 
If the animal faculties are stronger and more ac- 
tive than the higher or moral and intellectual fac- 
ulties, reason will yield to the will and the indi- 
vidual will do about as the savage or lower an- 
imals would do under similar circumstances. But 
if the higher faculties are strong and active, the 
individual will live more in these than in the 
lower, and unless he be unduly tempted, he will 
refuse to yield to his animal faculties. Nor is it 
altogether a matter of strength of will, for the 
horse has a weaker will than man, yet he can not 
be made to drink, against his will. The individual 
will be true to the faculties that lead him. If his 
moral and intellectual faculties are weak, he will 
derive more pleasure from the animal faculties, 
and will therefore live in them. The higher joys 
of life are known only to those in whom the high- 
er faculties are strongest, and results from their 
exercise. 

Thus we see the futility of attempting to fight 
the evil desires with the will. The only way to 
weaken the evil desires is to cultivate the higher 
ones. It is the old, old story of overcoming evil 



96 PLAN OF CREATION 

with good. So long as the higher faculties are 
weak and inactive, just so long must we expect to 
be cursed by over indulgence through the lower, 
for men will continue to do the things they most 
desire at the time. Only the fear of the penalty, 
or of losing a greater pleasure deters men from 
following their desires immediately s So what- 
ever we do, it is in response to the strongest de- 
sire. Physical or mental suffering, or heart-felt 
sadness, drives man from the lower to the higher. 
He hurts others, others hurt him. His desires 
lead him through fires that scorch and burn. He 
learns the best course at last. Of this there can 
be -no doubt, for suffering in one form or another 
grows more and more unbearable and leads either 
to reformation or to suicide. 

The lion, the tiger and the other flesh-eating 
animals have no reason to refrain from killing and 
eating other animals, for they have no higher pur- 
pose or pleasure than to eat and sleep. These an- 
imals live on a plane far below the intellectual 
and moral, and whatever they do is consistent 
with animal nature. But man is capacitated to 
live on a much higher plane, in fact he is by en- 
dowment of mental faculties, but little lower than 
the angels. He can and should live on a plane far 
removed from the animal plane and should refuse 
to yield to his animal faculties. The lower ani- 
mal violates no natural or moral law, for the lower 
animals have no conception of morality or justice. 

The mind of man is a kind of reproducer, of the 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 97 

forms seen around us in the physical world, and 
of the mental impressions of other minds. Music 
must, in order to be appreciated by us, repeat it- 
self in our minds, just as it expresses itself in the 
mind of the musician. Again, it is like receiving 
a message over a telephone wire. The listener 
must understand the value of the words spoken, 
and must allow to be repeated in his own mind 
the message that is active in the mind of the send- 
er. It is simply a case of reproduction. The men- 
tal instruments to communicate with each other 
must be very much alike in every essential. Light 
has no meaning except to eyes, and words are 
valueless except to ears. The mind must be able 
to reproduce whatever comes to it, for the princi- 
ple is universal. 

The mind is not one homogeneous whole. It is 
divisioned into parts. Intelligence is mental ac- 
tivity and can only manifest through a great num- 
ber of faculties, each of which expresses a certain 
phase of mind. Each individual is like a great 
number of individuals ; he is painter, artist, musi- 
cian, sculptor all in one. But few of us are suffi- 
ciently developed in all our faculties to do more 
than one thing well or in the best manner possi- 
ble. The carpenter is seldom able to do as good 
work outside of his profession. But even though 
we are not all musicians and painters, we all have 
some degree of appreciation, while there are none 
who are wholly lacking in any mental faculty or 
function. All have some knowledge of colors, va- 



98 PLAN OF CREATION 

nations in sound, and in variations in size and 
shapes of things. The science of phrenology is a 
fact, though not all of what some phrenologists 
teach may be true or just what they think it to be. 
We receive impressions from objects within 
range of our physical senses, and these impres- 
sions become new information to us, worth more 
or less to us, depending upon our mental develop- 
ment or unf oldment. The same impressions to the 
mind of a dog or other lower animal would mean 
much less to it than to an intelligent human being. 
We receive music only when we are equipped with 
the faculty of tune, which may be called the men- 
tal reproducer of music. Intelligence is conscious 
recognition, and this in turn is mental expression. 
Nothing can be known to any being, God or man, 
except what is mentally expressed in the indi- 
vidual at that time. Just as we produce music by 
pressing the proper keys in measured time, so do 
we express all other phases of mind by mental ac- 
tion, and we are conscious only of what is ex- 
pressed. We could not say of a man "he is in- 
telligence,' ' for this would imply that intelligence 
or mind is a concrete object or thing. But we can 
say of a man that he is ' 'intelligent,' ' meaning by 
this that the man is capacitated to express intel- 
ligence. We can say of the phonograph record 
that it contains a fine piece of music, or has a fine 
piece of music engraved on it; though we could 
not say of the record that it is a fine piece of 
music, for that would be misleading. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 99 

Again, there are those who declare that our mis- 
takes here and now make scars on the soul that 
never can be healed, and that words spoken go on 
vibrating for an eternity. If this were true God 
would be eternally limited by man's blindness and 
viciousness. A soul that could not be healed of its 
wounds would be destroyed, for an eternal curse 
could not be thought of. As to words spoken vi- 
brating for an eternity, that would be to curse the 
universe and all conscious life by the passions of 
a moment. It is simpler to imagine words re- 
peated, than to imagine them vibrating for an 
eternity. It is more in keeping with good sense 
to stop the machine and remove the record, than 
to keep it grinding away on one tune for an 
eternity. 

Human beings are much like parrots; they re- 
peat without careful thought much that is de- 
clared by others to be truth. Mankind is too 
prone to accept as truth a claim that is supported 
by a few strong points, without taking the time 
to look for the possible stronger points against 
such claim, which may not be quite so apparent 
to the careless thinker. When 'it is declared that 
"all is mind," even some of our scientists accept 
the claim as a fact in nature, not stopping to see 
where such assumption leads them. 

While many of the operations of natural law 
are seemingly acts of intelligence, careful think- 
ing will reveal the fact that these are not con- 
scious and willed expressions. Take, for example, 



100 PLAN OF CREATION 

the action of the law of gravity. This law acts 
with a precision that is beyond man's comprehen- 
sion. No power directed by the intellect could 
possibly accomplish such accuracy. 

Were this power conscious, it would represent 
an intelligence more cruel than anything conceiv- 
able. The proverbial devil is an angel of mercy 
compared to the relentlessness of this law, if con- 
ceived to be the conscious expression of will. 

The power of gravity lies in chemical affinity or 
attraction, and needs no eyes to guide it or con- 
science to reprove. Nature's laws are as surely 
fixed in channels as the locomotive is fixed in a 
groove by steel rails, or the river in its course by 
a channel. Neither the locomotive, the river nor 
the circular saw are guided by any intelligence in- 
herent in themselves. The plow in the furrow is 
not self-directed, nor is it even conscious of what 
it is doing or is made to do. Yet there are some 
who claim that plants have eyes, and back of 
these eyes, minds. If plants be thought to have 
eyes is it not equally reasonable to assume the 
feet and hands have eyes and minds? It is far 
more reasonable to think of the feet and hands 
as having eyes, but the eyes are in the head, where 
they belong, not in the ends of the fingers and 
toes, where they could be of no possible use. 

The simple fact that there are mental faculties 
and brain organs is in itself ample proof that "all 
is (not) mind." If "all is mind," what reason is 
there for the subdivision? If this "all mind" 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 101 

fills every part of the human organism, why 
eclipse this universal mind with a lesser part for- 
ever groping its way in the dark? If there is one 
"all mind,'' heads and brains of men and animals 
represent egregious blunders on the part of the 
* l all mind. ' ' There would be no need of the sub- 
divisions if the "all is mind" had intelligence and 
power to accomplish the results required. Belief 
in anything not a fact in nature is as surely super- 
stition as a belief in wooden gods. 

Notwithstanding this "all is mind" doctrine 
has deceived millions of the human race, includ- 
ing some of its brightest minds, there is no truth 
more clearly manifest in nature than that mind is 
but a form of expression, and can express only 
through mental faculties created for this purpose. 

There is a universal substance that can prop- 
erly be called life; we may even call it force, for 
life alone has power to act. Even force might 
with reason be said to be a form of manifestation 
or action. But we are unquestionably safe in 
calling this substance life, for life alone can build 
a universe and bind it together by its power to act. 

The Hydraulic Nozzle. Those familiar with 
hydraulic mining know that a great quantity of 
running water can be forced through a small 
opening, as through the nozzle of a hose, under 
great pressure. This is not the result of com- 
pression in the water, which is impossible, but is 
the direct result of great pressure obtained by 
confining the water in a channel as it pours down 



FL_L\- . 7 CBEATIOX 

7L-5 rrinzit'.f 12s :^: izllj ex- 
iri :: s. .7 ni li-ri :zl~ :e re- 



or :- :-: of as the 

::zli iirlr -5 :: - i-sTizi -Jus 



-.'-.' is :i: _r ii'.t T_- 7 

jane the L to tke God-Head Ego 



:: 3. slzz'.t 



man. Ttts Me4hiead entens the head 

._ "_7 zTiii: :rriz zz: i :: "_7 :..:i:7 :: 
>gy as PhfloprogemtiTeiiess, situated at 

- :i.:> -?- :: :"_e s-ll. :: t^s-s :~: 



ATI the great dis:- e by man simply 

i: : Tze iisi-'.T^TT that a 



e, for mam is as truly a function of 
■>: i-Z^i zs -±- tZ_~:_ l~ a ne~ — :: the 



_ -. — 



lightning speed at this point. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 103 

is man the " quickening" power in nature and the 
" light of the world," for the same current that 
binds us to the God-Head develops light and heat 
in its passage through the earth and its atmos- 
phere. That man is "fearfully and wonderfully 
made" will not be questioned by the thoughtful 
mind. Our bodies are here, though we are rooted 
in the God-Head, and through God's eyes we see 
all that we see of the universe. It might be said 
that man or the organism of man are the tentacles 
of the God-Head projected into space. God sees 
through us "but dimly," though in time to come 
He will see through the faculties of man perfectly. 

A more complete understanding of the manner 
in which the earth receives its light and heat from 
the sun will be brought out in another chapter. 

Hypnotism and Hydrophobia. We have seen 
that variation is a fixed fact in nature; no two 
objects are exactly alike, and no two have exactly 
the same rate of vibration. Each one is keyed to 
a certain pitch. We each read the mental im- 
pressions that come to us in our own rates, and 
we know nothing of other rates. The hypnotist 
by changing the subject's rate of vibration com- 
pletely causes the subject to lose the power to feel 
pain. His mind being made to vibrate at a dif- 
ferent rate, can not read the pain message. What 
is true of hypnosis is also true of hydrophobia, 
for the same law governs everywhere. The germ 
from the mad-dog sets up a rate of vibration like 
that of the dog, which continues until the whole 



104 PLAN OF CREATION 

organism vibrates in that key. Hence the victim 
can only think and act as the dog thinks and acts 
in the same diseased state of mind, and thus the 
reason for his acting and barking like a dog. This 
affliction could probably be cured through the 
power of hypnotic suggestion, which is faith un- 
hampered by doubt. Were it possible to cast all 
doubt from the mind, and live wholly in faith, 
there could be no disease in our systems, for faith 
is the power of God in man. Doubt nullifies this 
power. 

In the hypnotic sleep, many forms of nervous 
diseases can be cured, and surgical operations per- 
formed without pain, often without danger, as has 
been proven by European doctors. But the gen- 
eral use of hypnotism is not here recommended, 
for it may be used for evil as well as good. We 
here only point out the fundamental law back of 
hypnotism, and the explanation of hydrophobia. 

We see, feel, hear and taste in our own partic- 
ular and individualized rates of vibration, hence 
the hypnotic subject drinks water and thinks it 
wine, being under the control of the hypnotist. 
He sees or imagines what the hypnotist allows to 
pass through his own mind. And in certain states 
of this sleep, a pain inflicted on the hypnotist is 
felt by the subject, while at the same time pins 
may be thrust through the lips and ears of the 
subject and he will feel no pain. 

To change the rate of vibration of one indi- 
vidual to that of another, is to speak Latin to ears 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 105 

that know it not. At the same time we learn the 
power of faith from actual tests, which have been 
conducted by masters of the art of hypnotism. 

And as a closing remark in this connection it 
may be well to state here that many of the won- 
ders performed by the "fakirs" of East India, 
is the work of hypnotism. These men have so 
trained themselves that they can make mental 
images so strong in their own minds that these 
mental images overpower the minds of the un- 
trained, and thus are they made to believe they 
see these men rise and walk in the air, and per- 
form other impossible feats. Very strong mental 
images will fill other minds with the same images. 
The "faker" makes others see what he imagines 
or allows to form in his own mind. And many of 
our scientists have been blinded by the power of 
these men, and have given their false impression 
to the reading world. 



106 PLAN OF CEEATION 



ACTIVE AND PASSIVE PEINCIPLES IN 

NATUKE. 

It is inconceivable that the active principle in 
nature could or would act upon itself. Steam acts 
upon the engine, not upon itself. Physical matter 
is inert; it is the engine, driven by life principle 
that acts as steam. Wherever the active and pas- 
sive are manifest in nature, the active can act 
only upon the passive; the inert. It is impossible 
to imagine the active principle in nature turning 
upon itself and forcing any part of itself to be- 
come inactive. This would imply that some part 
is less active than another; otherwise, how could 
one part affect the other? "If there were no ob- 
ject, there could be no subject," and this must 
hold good for time and eternity. "Matter can not 
exist and be operative without spirit or spirit 
without matter." If this is true now, it has al- 
ways been true, and must continue to remain true. 
Principles are not affected by age. They are al- 
ways young and assertive. 

From this we learn that spirit and matter have 
coeval existence and that one is not the product 
of the other. From whence comes the idea that 
matter becomes spirit, or spirit matter? If from 
the notion that the atoms composing a body are 
in constant motion, let those who make the claim 
prove it to be a fact, and not merely a theory. 
What reason is there to believe that the particles 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 107 

making up a stone are in constant motion, when 
the stone itself is motionless! How can the whole 
be inert if the parts are active? And seeing that 
inertia is as necessary in creation as activity, why 
imagine as a truth what the five senses clearly 
dispute ? 

We see the stone to be inert. If we pulverize 
the stone to fine sand, will not the particles be 
found motionless! The inertia of matter makes 
it possible for both God and man to mold it into a 
variety of forms. Active resistance in bricks 
would make it necessary to destroy the life in 
them before the mason could use them in build- 
ing. Though matter by its inertia offers passive 
resistance, this inertia is essential, for without 
effort nothing can be accomplished. Effort must 
be put forth in all undertakings and in all achieve- 
ments. Inertia in matter and activity in spirit 
are inherent and not created, and being inherent 
they are eternal. There is a perpetual warfare 
waged in nature between the tendency to reduce 
all things to a solid, and the tendency to reconvert 
everything into the gaseous state. 

This fact is witnessed at the poles of the earth, 
and in the cooler regions of the temperate zones. 
We may assume these tendencies to be equal or 
nearly so, since neither can gain the supremacy 
over the other. The tendencies are constant, but 
the conditions are variable, and in some localities 
winter reigns, while in others summer conquers, 
even when, as in the equatorial regions, the tern- 



108 PLAN OF CREATION 

perature of the upper currents of air is freezing 
cold. 

"We can not afford to base our judgment on con- 
tradictions. We shall learn nothing and know 
nothing if we reject the evidence of our senses and 
accept a theory that is contradicted by all of 
them. 

"If there were no object, there could be no sub- 
ject; and if there were no subject there could be 
no object. For on either side alone nothing could 
be achieved." If the active principles in nature 
had not existed coevally, nothing could have been 
proposed, to say nothing of creation itself. And 
as one writer and would-be leader of men and 
women in spiritual matters claims that Christ's 
flesh body was "transmuted" into spirit, we are 
called upon to reflect but a moment to recognize 
the improbability of such a thing. It could not 
have been necessary, since if quantity were de- 
sirable, a greater supply might have been ob- 
tained by the transmutation of the body of some 
huge animal as the elephant or whale, or enor- 
mous mass of matter as a mountain. The quality 
would not have been affected, since spirit is spirit, 
wherever found, or from whatever source derived. 
The truth is simpler yet more wonderful than fic- 
tion. It is no more necessary for God to mold a 
part of Himself into rock, than for man to make 
bricks out of his own flesh. 

There is no more reason for supposing that mat- 
ter was formed out of spirit or life substance, than 



OE SWORD OF TRUTH 109 

that all substance was originally a solid and that 
time reduced it to spirit or indivisible substance. 
All created forms had a beginning, though the 
substance or material itself had no beginning. 
Had there been no beginning to creation, there 
would be no history, for history has beginning and 
end, while space and eternity have not. Unorgan- 
ized matter and substance have no history, for 
they had no beginning and can have no end. But 
the universe has a history, for it had its begin- 
ning and it will reach its perfect or complete state. 
But the universe will not come to an end, though 
its history will finally be completed, and it is the 
history of the universe that claims the attention 
of man. 

The organism of man is poised between life and 
death; the visible and tangible part of his com- 
position consists of inert matter. But this body 
is animated by the presence and action of life 
substance. Life expresses itself in activity, but 
physical matter has no power to act. Both ten- 
dencies are inherent and eternal and both are nec- 
essary to organic life and intelligence. Life sub- 
stance can never grow tired or weak, though the 
material organism may do both, and finally wear 
out. It is not the life in us that grows tired or 
weak, though life alone has the power to feel tired 
and weak. But this feeling comes from a change 
in the organism. A pint of steam at a given tem- 
perature will be as active as any number of pints 
at the same temperature. But a single pint of 



110 PLAN OF CEEATION 

steam would not drive the engine. It must be 
backed up by numberless other pints, to fill the 
cylinder and generate power. Electricity or life 
substance always acts through another substance 
that is coarser than itself, as the nerve fluids in 
the animal organism, and when these are burnt 
up in action as the steam is consumed in the mo- 
tion of the engine, the organism becomes weak 
and the tired or sleepy feeling is the result. Life 
feels the weakness of its lever or levers. As steam 
can not be inactive or powerless in a closed vessel, 
neither can this same universal life substance 
cease its activity. But different kinds of quali- 
ties of matter offer varying degrees of resistance 
to its action, in and through it. And just as power 
latent in steam is not denied by its being unable 
to move the piston, neither is the life agent proven 
weak or faulty when failing to accomplish a given 
result through the animal organism. The trouble 
in all such cases is found to be a change or defect 
in the organism. Nor can we believe that this 
universal life agent can will itself into inaction 
through the mental faculties of either God or man, 
and by the term God the God-Head form is meant. 
The action may be shifted from one channel to 
another, but action does not cease even in sleep. 
It operates through different channels and in a 
different manner merely. 

God is spirit or life, and this is the same yester- 
day, today and forever. It can not change or be 
changed. But the composition of matter can be 



OE SWORD OF TRUTH 111 

changed, and this goes on continuously. Live at- 
oms bound in the flesh and live atoms bound in 
ice are held in bondage and inaction as steam in 
the boiler, for steam, like all other forms of force, 
is but a varying manifestation of the one uni- 
versal life substance, as explained elsewhere in 
this volume. 

Between those who imagine God able to do any 
imaginary thing in any imaginary manner, and 
those who teach the doctrine of chance, as most 
scientists do, the unbiased and unprejudiced mind 
finds little consolation and less help in reaching a 
true explanation of the action of natural law. 

That these laws are ceaseless forces, bound in 
certain channels by the forces of attraction and 
repulsion should be apparent to any observing 
mind. Some appear to think the laws of nature 
are willed into existence. As reasonably imagine 
life willing itself into existence, as to imagine it 
changing its inherent nature. The nature of life 
is to act or to be active as it is for steam to ex- 
pand. In fact, many have no higher conception 
of the universe than a kind of an invention arbi- 
trarily ruled over by an autocrat who wills laws 
into existence much the same as we shape bricks. 
Moreover, it is not one whit more of a problem 
why there is no conscious life below mental planes, 
than in pressing the proper keys of the musical 
instrument to produce music. All sounds are not 
music, nor is all action conscious expression. The 
mental plane is the conscious plane in nature, and 



112 PLAN OF CREATION 

it is the highest plane. Eyes and ears are placed 
in the head and not in the hands and feet, and this 
fact alone is proof that conscious life resides in 
the mental faculties or is expressed through them. 

It also indicates to us that there is a conscious 
head over nature and that the organism of na- 
ture, like the organism of man, is conscious only 
at its God-Head or dynamic center. Mind is 
poised between the play of blind forces ; it ob- 
serves the action of these forces, and comes to un- 
derstand the law governing them. Only because 
these forces are fixed and eternal is it possible to 
make intelligent observation. It is because the 
forces of nature are not conscious of their action, 
that mind centers of intelligence are possible to 
establish or maintain. Mind observes change in 
the physical world as the eye observes color or 
the ear sound, or rather, as mind observes color 
and sound through eye and ear respectively. 

Nature having placed eyes and ears in the head, 
is there alone conscious of her operations here and 
now. 

Some qualities of matter are more refractory 
than others, some less; it is this fact that made it 
possible to organize a universe and maintain it. 
There are a dozen or more freezing mixtures, a 
number of which are so powerful in their action 
as to turn water into ice on a hot stove. Were 
it not for other classes of matter which show a 
tendency to vibrate at a very high rate, there 
could be no balance maintained, and so the uni- 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 113 

verse would either congeal into a solid or else be 
thrown back into its gaseous state. And even in 
our own bodies the warfare is waged constantly 
between the tendency to become petrified and the 
tendency to vibrate at a destructive rate. And 
in a few notable cases the human body has been 
known to petrify, before and after death. 

As it is in the physical so it is in the astral, for 
the law of quality is not confined alone to the 
physical. There are as many astral or soul sub- 
stances that have a tendency to solidify as there 
are material substances having the same ten- 
dency. But on the astral plane the rates of vibra- 
tion are much higher than on the physical; on 
that plane the mind will vibrate in a much higher 
key than here, at a rate that would destroy the 
flesh body. There is that fight going on night 
and day and every hour of time here on the earth, 
to lower the temperature to the freezing and zero 
points, and to raise it to the boiling point. If we 
conceive of this being the work of conscious ef- 
fort on the part of nature, we spoil the picture by 
the introduction of a curse. The spirit does not 
act against itself, though it does seek always to 
remove obstructions from its path, such as to melt 
ice and raise fhe temperature everywhere. 

If we conceive of mind as a substance as such, 
as water is water because of its composition or 
the stone because of its concrete form, then we 
conceive of a mind that is conscious of carrying 
on a fight it can never win. It is a supreme and 



114 PLAN OF CREATION 

eternal blessing that there are two antagonistic 
tendencies in nature, namely, the tendency to re- 
duce everything to a solid and the tendency to 
reconvert the universe back into its gaseous state, 
for between these two antagonistic forces we live, 
move and have our conscious being. But this 
fight is all waged on the plane below the conscious 
or mental plane. The struggle is as devoid of 
feeling and knowledge as the struggle carried on 
through the gasoline engine to carry the big tour- 
ing car up a steep grade. The passengers do not 
feel sorry for the engine or the power that drives 
it, for they know that there is no feeling or intel- 
ligence in the struggle, either in the engine or the 
power that drives it. 

With the nerves of sensation paralyzed leading 
from the feet to the brain, the feet may be ampu- 
tated without feeling any pain. From this we 
must conclude that inanimate nature is free from 
pain, for had we evidence that all nature is con- 
scious, it would be a curse to live and the suprem- 
est of blessings to be dead. But let us console our- 
selves; the stones under our feet feel no pain and 
trees are not hurt by being chopped down and 
burnt. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 115 



"TO HIM THAT OVERCOMETH WILL I GIVE 
TO EAT OF THE HIDDEN MANNA, AND 
WILL GIVE HIM A WHITE STONE AND IN 
THE STONE, A NEW NAME WRITTEN, 
WHICH NO MAN KNOWETH SAVING HE 
THAT RECEIVETH IT." 

The hidden manna is the joy that comes to one 
in love with the truth and has prepared his mind 
to receive it. 

Some Bible students have interpreted this 
Scripture as referring to a number of persons, and 
so make it read in the plural instead of in the sin- 
gular as here written. But in the wording as here 
given, God points to one individual; one who can 
do a special work. Bearing on this point, the 
writer begs permission to refer to a personal ex- 
perience which came to him in the spring of 1894, 
probably in the month of April. At this time, 
June 24, 1915, the matter is not so fresh in mind, 
but as I now remember it, the aching must have 
lasted a whole day and night, possibly longer. 
The pain was so severe that I could neither write 
nor study. I had thrown myself upon the bed, 
and had passed into some sort of semiconscious 
state when I was suddenly roused to full con- 
sciousness by seeing the name ARCHIBALD 
SIGNORELLI as in a vision. The name rose from 
the vibrations of the aching tooth, and as though 
directly out of it; it appeared in crystallized form 



116 PLAN OF CEEATION 

as in a solid Mock of white metal rising from the 
cavity in the tooth; the letters were all capitals 
and considerably larger than this print. The 
name and the block of metal bore a close resem- 
blance to what one sees in a pressroom where a 
linotype is used. The first name, Archibald, is my 
own given name. ,The name Signorelli is in the 
singular number and agrees well with the prom- 
ise. The name rose as vapor from a volcanic 
crater, from the aching tooth to the memory point 
in the mind, where it took the form here written. 
A tooth is virtually a white stone, while it is 
known that certains forms of vibration produce 
figures of various kinds, depending upon the na- 
ture of the vibrations. But the purpose of the 
name may not be any easier for us to solve than 
the reason for certain forms of vibration produc- 
ing definite shapes. 

The Bible is a book of symbols; much of it was 
not intended to be understood prior to its fulfill- 
ment. The reason for this could be explained from 
several angles, though it is but necessary to re- 
member that it is unwise to forewarn a thief if it 
is really desired to catch him in the act of theft. 
To tell men beforehand and in plain language 
that God will bring to pass certain reforms in a 
definite manner at given periods, would cause 
them to act under restraint; they would not act 
naturally; they would play a part they did not 
feel. It is even probable that some would act in 
a manner to defeat, if possible, any and all re- 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 117 

forms. Others would act through superstitious 
fear, so that from whatever angle we view the 
matter, it seems wisest to catch the thief in the 
act; then he can not plead innocence. 

Whether or not this is the "little book" spoken 
of in Revelation, must be left to the world to de- 
cide. As a passing remark it may be said that 
mental digestion is not wholly unlike stomach di- 
gestion. Some foods taste sweet in the mouth, but 
turn to bitterness in the stomach, through its ef- 
fort to digest them. To read a theory or an ef- 
fort to explain a mystery may be pleasing as a 
pastime, but if it is desired to know the funda- 
mental truths of nature, to understand the reason 
for things, the brain stomach may find part of the 
process of digestion painful. The soul is filled 
with glory as each link of the chain of truth is 
revealed; but pain and suffering fill the whole be- 
ing in the effort to discover the next link in this 
endless chain. Thirty years of earnest and almost 
constant effort to persuade nature to yield up her 
gems of truth has filled the head with gray hairs 
and the mind with bitterness and joy mixed. 

In the beginning of this work I was very posi- 
tive in all my claims. At this time, I am much 
less so. For since that time more than a quarter 
of a century has elapsed, and many other books 
have been written by various writers, some of 
whom claim to be commissioned by heaven itself 
to reveal the truth to the world. Some of these 
are to me foolish in their claims, hence I here 



118 PLAN OF CREATION 

claim no more than nature appears to support, 
leaving it to the future to decide how much is 
true and how much false. There is but one safe 
way and that is to apply the test of reason and 
common sense to everything that passes through 
our minds. 

I have found that writing under the stimulus 
of spirit influence is very trying, for in this state 
of mind, everything appears in magnified form, 
and f<5r this reason may be put down as truth, 
when in reality it may be only the imagination 
running wild under high pressure. This, then, 
makes it absolutely necessary to apply the test 
of reason, and accept what appears most rea- 
sonable, rejecting everything that is born of prej- 
udice. Look only for the truth, regardless of how 
often it is necessary to reframe your judgments 
and conclusions. Love for truth and a constant 
search for it seems the only reliable course to pur- 
sue, regardless of whether or not you feel yourself 
to be inspired. Clear seeing is the only kind of 
inspiration there is, even though the thoughts 
appear to come direct from God Himself. 

The pint measure will only hold its pint. ' ' The 
Shakespeare without can only commune with the 
Shakespeare within," is a truism we must ac- 
cept. Therefore the value of a theory lies wholly 
in the ability of the writer or speaker to weigh 
evidence for and against what he claims, bearing 
ever in mind the fact that one clear contradic- 
tion is as good as five hundred witnesses against 



OE SWORD OF TRUTH 119 

his claim. A theory stands either condemned or 
proved by facts that may be seen. It is folly for a 
writer to continue along a line of thought after 
he comes face to face with a clear contradiction. 
If the writer receives the writing from an angel 
and under full control, then the writing is worth 
just what that angel's ideas are worth; this may 
be exact truth or it may be mostly false, depend- 
ing entirely upon the position taken. Some minds 
on the other side of life are weaker in judgment 
than some advanced minds on this side. 

Theories both false and true are ropes to which 
men are bound ; the false theory rope will not per- 
mit one to reach out very far, whereas a true the- 
ory will permit the mind to go as far as it will 
care to carry the idea, for truth is never contra- 
dictory. The majority of human beings shun 
ideas that differ from those in common use, over- 
looking the fact that we must cut loose from pres- 
ent-day thought, for we have not as yet discov- 
ered very much truth. 

There are many on earth today who can bear 
witness to the fact that spirits from the cause 
world do come and help the human mind to un- 
fold in many cases ; but these spirits can not cause 
to unfold what nature has not implanted in the 
mind. The florist will assist nature in her work 
of unfolding his flowers, but he will not succeed 
in bringing forth what nature has not designed 
in such flowers. Nature has designed a special 
revelation in each human mind — in the soul fac- 



120 PLAN OF CREATION 

ulties and brain organs, but in most cases the 
design has been smothered by false theories or 
inability to unfold. 

Unf oldment is slow in most minds, whether here 
or on the other side of life. The advanced thinker 
here on earth takes up his work on the other side 
and carries it forward. All truth comes direct 
from the God-Head, and He gives it to whom He 
wills, and this means that He gives it to those who 
want the truth and have prepared themselves to 
receive it. 

To sum up: The human mind reflects about 
what it contains; if it is full of false theories, it 
will reflect them in all its work, unless disgorged 
beforehand. If the writer believes in an endless 
number of universes and is pleased with the idea, 
he will see this to the end. If he is afraid to dis- 
pute the contradiction that Christ is three persons 
in one, he will overlook the contradictions. If he 
believes the earth to be flat he will find evidence 
to support his theory; or that we dwell on the in- 
side of the earth he will bring his witnesses, 
though he will be careful not to call others who 
have a different story to tell. 

Could nature have reflected all beauty in one 
flower or one variety of flower, one variety would 
have been all she would have created. Each 
flower and each variety of flower reflects a beauty 
all its own. 

So of the human soul ; each will reflect a beauty 
and a glory peculiar to itself and each perfect in 



OE SWORD OF TRUTH 121 

itself. That each human soul and mind is not 
here and now beautiful, is no reason that this will 
not be so when nature has finished her work. Men 
today are imitators of each other; instead of try- 
ing to unfold their minds, men seek to copy after 
each other, lest they give offense, one to the other. 
In striving to be popular men refuse to advance 
in new lines of thought, for fear of becoming un- 
popular. In the field of mechanical inventions 
men have shown a remarkable independence of 
thought, but in the field of natural science men 
have taken their thoughts from each other, and 
which, for most part, are contradictory. 

Truth is not truth to us unless we first weigh 
it in the balance of reason and find it to be just 
what is claimed for it. We are to challenge every- 
thing that comes to us, for in this way only can 
we be sure of receiving the truth. A truth not 
backed up by facts to support it is no better than 
falsehood to the mind that receives it. 

The Rift in the Cloud! Standing upon a moun- 
tain top one wintry day, where I had gone to get 
a view of the country around, there settled over 
this mountain a thick cloud; snowflakes fell 
thick and fast around me, so that it was 
impossible to see more than a few yards 
in any direction. The intense desire to 
get a view of the surrounding country, cou- 
pled with the inability to do so on account of the 
heavy cloud that overhung the mountain and the 
falling snow, became intensely painful — when 



122 PLAN OF CEEATION 

suddenly — as by magic, this cloud rolled away! 
The effect was magical, though indescribable! 
The snow scene to me was not to be compared 
to anything on earth, nor surpassed by any scene 
anywhere. To the south of me there rose a high 
mountain peak, rising as if out of the bowels of 
the earth itself — a most impressive sight to me! 
Then came the revelation and the meaning of it — 
"the cloud of prejudice hides the truths of God 
from the mind of man!" 

For a time it seemed as though the soul would 
leave its fleshly prison, so great was the emotion! 
Nature had shown me in the most convincing 
manner possible, that man himself stands be- 
tween himself and the God of wisdom, justice and 
mercy! No power on earth or in heaven can come 
between any man and the God of love, except the 
man himself, by his own willful stubbornness and 
blindness. Prejudice is the worst enemy any hu- 
man being can have, and is the most unreasonable 
of all mental qualities. If a thing is true, we 
should be willing to know it, and should make 
diligent effort to find out what we can about it, 
for we must be willing to give a reason for the 
faith in us, and able to do so. To believe a thing 
merely because some one else believes it, is the 
silliness of a child. And even though the whole 
world believes a thing to be true, if there is no 
evidence that it is so, does not justify any sane 
man or woman in accepting it without examina- 
tion. If declaring one's belief in a thing was suf- 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 123 

ficient reason for others to believe it, the con- 
fusion in the world would be so great that no 
sane person could live on the planet and retain 
his reason. All would go crazy, for there are mil- 
lions who believe a thing because others believe 
it, and not because they have any idea at all of 
the facts that bear witness to the truth of it. This 
is not an argument against the belief in an ideal 
Christ. But it does argue the question with many 
who profess to believe, yet prove by their selfish 
actions that it is nothing more than a lip-to-lip 
belief, and is not a heartfelt conviction. A belief 
that never sinks deeper than a mouth profession, 
is hardly strong enough to be called a belief. 
There is plenty of evidence that the ideal Christ 
did live on earth, since it would have been abso- 
lutely impossible for a selfish man without ideals 
to have written the history of him. Blind selfish- 
ness has no ideals. Though we do find blind self- 
ishness occupying elaborate pews in costly 
churches, this is no proof that these people believe 
in the ideal Christ, or that they possess any of 
his unselfish qualities of mind and heart. Those 
who have the ideal Christ in their hearts and re- 
flected and imaged in the mind, have the proof in 
themselves of the reality of the concrete fact. The 
ideal and the concrete fact are inseparable. The 
two go together. Man has no power to paint a 
picture that does not exist in nature. Nature 
leads the mind of man. He cannot paint or pic- 
ture an ideal that nature has not already produced 



124 PLAN OF CEEATION 

in the concrete. The mind reflects nature, not 
nature the mind. There is no devil that the mind 
of man can picture that has not been here and is 
not here now on this earth in concrete form. And 
there is no ideal man can conceive of that has 
not existed and that does not now exist. 

Nature will reveal to any unselfish and unprej- 
udiced mind the fact of the concrete existence of 
a personal God, and of. the living reality of Christ, 
and the purpose and plan of creation, as fast as 
the mind can unfold to receive the information. 
Nature caused to pass before the writer of this 
book* a panoramic view of the universe and the 
laws governing, and controlled the hand and 
wrote a description of it, and which was far be- 
yond the range of my intelligence. That writing 
was the words and wisdom of God, and for that 
reason would have been of no real benefit to the 
world. It was all destroyed, and then the work 
of writing this book and revealing the plan of 
nature, in accord with human understanding, be- 
gan. And for nearly thirty years I have labored 
night and day, to lay the facts as nature showed 
them to me, before the world. And this has re- 
quired reframing the work over and over many, 
many times, for it is hard to describe the wonders 
of nature, even after they are shown to you. But 
this is promised: Those who do read this book 
with the unprejudiced desire to understand the 
plan of nature and to know the truth, nature will 
reveal to them just what she revealed to the 



OR SWOBD OF TEUTH 125 

writer. This all real believers will understand: 
the selfish man is no more a Christian than night 
is day. And it is the counterfeits in the church 
that have caused honest doubters to question the 
living reality of a Christ. And though I make 
use of the term honest doubters, it can be said 
at the same time that they have not exercised wis- 
dom in such doubt. It should be borne in mind 
that good coin only is counterfeited. You can- 
not counterfeit a counterfeit. Thieves and rascals 
flock to the churches and profess to believe in 
Christ, because they hope to get back good coin 
for the counterfeit they have been giving to the 
community in the form of pretense. Any man 
who says he is a Christian, and is not living the 
Christ life of unselfishness, is a liar, and the truth 
is not in him, for the law has not changed! 

The real believers in Christ have just as much 
proof for their belief as have any of us for any 
sensation or feeling experienced in our bodies. 
Abstract belief in Christ has no more influence on 
us than the same kind of belief in the outer cold 
of space. Devils believe and tremble, but not 
enough to shake the devil out of them. Great 
wealth in the midst of poverty and suffering is 
proof that the possessors of this wealth are not 
Christians. One cannot be a devil and an angel in 
the same breath. The ideal Christ within would 
expel uncharity of the heart. By this test you 
will know them: All wealthy people who do not 
strive to relieve the distress of extreme poverty 



126 PLAN OF CREATION 

in their midst, are un-Christian at heart, no mat- 
ter whether they be king or president, pope, 
priest or preacher, and hereafter this test will be 
applied to all men in all walks of life. And this 
as fully applies to the writer of this book, as to 
any other human being. I have not tried to hide 
from my own eyes my own shortcomings^ any 
more than I have tried to hold back any essential 
fact that has been revealed to me. Love for the 
truth must be the compelling power to force us 
onward and upward. And though the reader of 
this book should find that the writer of it has be- 
come a drunkard and an outcast in human society, 
he must not allow that to weaken his own efforts 
to study this book, and nature through the book, 
for the writer has not the power to change the 
truth or alter any fact in nature. We do not kill 
the truth by covering it up in our minds, though 
we do kill the power of our souls to unfold by 
seeking to smother or cover up the truth. And 
in closing this chapter I wish to say to the reader 
that I cannot promise that my own course of life 
will be the best and the cleanest at all times here- 
after. None of us know how low we may sink, if 
the environment is favorable. At the present 
time the national environment is more favorable 
for the propagation of thieves and rascals, than 
it is for making saints out of sinners. And in 
order to change this order of things, we must be- 
gin at the head of the stream and clear away the 
rubbish and filth, otherwise the stream must re- 



OR SWOED OF TRUTH 127 

main contaminated from its source to its month, 
and finally the nation die from the spread of po- 
litical corruption. We must not for one moment 
imagine that a nation can retain the ideals of 
moral and social justice, in the midst of political 
corruption. Might as reasonably expect to put 
filth in your coffee cup and not make filthy the 
contents, as to expect the nation's morals not to 
suffer from political corruption. The truth and 
the underlying facts concerning any and every- 
thing can be understood by any one, if close at- 
tention is given to the matter. No useful informa- 
tion can be hidden from the honest inquirer, if he 
is willing to pay the price, and the price is free- 
dom from prejudice. 



128 PLAN OF CREATION 



ETERNAL LIFE IN THE FLESH NOT PROM- 
ISED OR POSSIBLE. 

"As in Adam all die, even so, in Christ, shall 
all be made alive.' ' This Scripture rises in an- 
swer to a question and declares that the body in- 
herited from Adam dies or disintegrates; but it 
meets this outward appearance of death with the 
declaration: "Even so, shall all be made alive," 
for Adam represents the physical, while Christ 
represents the spiritual, and on this plane there 
is no death. "It is sown a natural (flesh) body, it 
is raised a spiritual body," for the physical body 
is but the soil containing the seed, and the new 
growth can only come from the decaying seed and 
the soil. As no plants grow from the seeds that do 
not decay when placed in the ground, so no new 
growth can come from the flesh body unless it de- 
cays. Like the florist transplants shrubs to new 
soil, the human plant is transferred to better soil, 
when developed sufficiently. The kingdom of 
heaven is indeed a state of mind, but heaven itself 
is a place, and offers a proper environment for 
the soul mature enough to leave the physical 
plane. Flesh and blood are confined to a physical 
plane for natural reasons. Flesh can only be pro- 
duced and maintained under the power of gravity 
and under great atmospheric pressure, such as ex- 
ist here on the earth, where the atmospheric pres- 
sure at sea level is approximately 15 pounds to 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 129 

the square inch of surface exposure. And as for 
the idea that we can live here indefinitely, this is 
neither warranted by the Bible, nor supported 
anywhere in nature. 

It is a dream, merely, and is neither reasonable 
nor desirable. Countless billions are yet to be 
born on the earth and we must pass on to make 
room for these. No wise student wishes to remain 
in one grade at school, when he knows that there 
are more advanced grades waiting for him. That 
the children of one God, should forever wander 
alone or in the company of the select few through 
an endless number of universes, those more ad- 
vanced going on ahead of those they once knew 
and loved, never to meet again, not even in count- 
less billions of years — this is indeed a sad thought. 
In contrast to this gloomy concept of the future, 
what a glad thought it is that we shall finally 
gather around the Father's throne, a perfect and 
happy family, with not one member missing. 

A truth that can not be solved in a measurable 
period of time, is not truth at all. It is a retreat- 
ing rainbow; it will not stand close inspection. 
Some of our would-be teachers would have us be- 
lieve that we can not have eternal life except by a 
correct understanding of God and His purpose; 
but it should be noted that many of these would 
be teachers have a very imperfect knowledge of 
God themselves, and if we take their ideas, we 
shall all be lost. Pure and perfect love places the 



130 PLAN OF CEEATION 

unlettered man or woman nearer God and His 
heaven than all the cold wisdom of this world can 
do. 

The humble washer-woman with a heart full of 
sympathy has a much better chance to see and 
know God, than have the most learned of earth 
who have not an equal degree of sympathy. Who 
is led by truth and justice can not miss the way. 

These would-be teachers paint for us a beauti- 
ful picture and then tell us we can not attain this 
in an eternity. One describes at least in a rough 
way the best he is capable of imagining, and this 
being so, these men are not far behind the highest 
they can imagine any of us ever attain. 

It is hard to imagine that a study of the so- 
called higher sciences places one in any closer re- 
lationship with God, than the study of housekeep- 
ing or farming. Does the geologist in his study of 
stones draw nearer to God than the farmer plow- 
ing in the fields ? Or does the astronomer search- 
ing the heavens for a new star come closer to the 
throne of God than the mother who holds in her 
arms the living image of God? Salvation is not 
through much learning, but through sympathy 
and good intentions. It is true that all things 
point to God, but many who study the so-called 
higher sciences get further and further away from 
Him, for they think they see a reason for there 
being no God. Ordinary occupations do not so 
often lead to disbelief, therefore we conclude that 
the common people have as much chance of seeing 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 131 

God as have the highly educated. Learning is 
good, but we should not allow it to lead us away 
from the truth. 

Regeneration. This doctrine is being taught in 
the world today, but while some appear to have 
the right idea of the meaning of regeneration, 
others have a very false conception of the same. 
Regeneration means turning from the sordid 
things of this life, to the higher and nobler, in 
which the mind is centered on love of truth and 
justice. It is a spiritual birth wherein the higher 
faculties gain the ascendency over the lower or 
animal faculties. It does not imply, as some 
teach, mere chastity in sex expression. Many who 
practice celibacy are of low cast mind. Sex love 
is the magnet that stirs the heart to action. And 
as to the theory of reincarnation, or numerous re- 
births in the flesh, we may well doubt the sound- 
ness of the claim or idea. Our experience begins 
and ends with memory, and having no knowledge 
of a former existence on earth, we have no reason 
for such belief or doctrine. If the soul must live 
this life over again, in numerous rebirths, why is 
the promise given that there is a chance for repen- 
tance at the eleventh hour? Repentance at the 
eleventh hour is good, else why is the promise 
given ? Soul substance contains the record of our 
lives on this plane, and this record can never be 
destroyed unless the soul itself be destroyed. That 
there is such a record of past experience, as mem- 
ory, is self evident. That no kind of record can 



132 PLAN OF CREATION 

be kept except on some kind of substance, no 
thoughtful man will question. Darkness is death 
and inaction, and inaction is death. At this time 
the universe is more dead than alive; there is 
more of the space occupied by the universe yet in 
darkness and death, than has been, as yet, rescued 
from it, as is illustrated in the diagram here 
shown. 

The mind of man is 
yet mostly in darkness 
as all know. He has 
very little spiritual light, 
these faculties of the 
mind being almost inac- 
tive in a great part of 
the human race. The up- 
per or spiritual facul- 
ties are mostly inactive. 
The last enemy, death, is to be overcome, and 
darkness and inaction is death. 

The human ego has its polarity in the God- 
Head, as spoken of in another chapter, and there- 
fore that which is bound in the human head in 
darkness is at the same time bound in heaven and 
in the God-Head; and that which "is loosed on 
earth is loosed in heaven," for a circuit that is 
stilled at any point is stilled at all points. Here 
we come face to face with one of the most wonder- 
ful facts of nature, but unfortunately it is one the 
world has not stopped to consider. Familiarity 
with some things has taken from us the incentive 




, 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 133 

to learn much about them. All Scripture has a 
meaning; it was not written at random, nor was 
it intended that more should be written than was 
or would be necessary. When we are told that 
"that which is bound on earth is bound in heaven ; 
and that which is loosed on earth is loosed in 
heaven," it is the spiritual darkness in the mind 
of man that is meant. And since the human mind 
through the ego is polarized in the God-Head it is 
not past belief that that which is bound in the hu- 
man head is also bound in the God-Head. 

If a telegraph or telephone wire is severed, the 
circuit is broken for the entire length of the line. 
The space assigned to each mental unit by nature 
in her God-Head form is about one circular foot ; 
this is multiplied by eight diameters and so ap- 
pears in the eight foot circles on the inner dome 
of the sun. Man is the quickening power in na- 
ture, and by a proper exercise of his faculties, he 
stirs to mental expression so much of the God- 
Head form as is covered by his polarity. There is 
no more wonderful fact in the universe than the 
fact of mind and the law governing its operations. 

When all of man's spiritual faculties have been 
redeemed from darkness, then will he commune 
freely with God and the universe will have been 
freed from all dark spots. The universe with its 
sun and planets is to God what a city is to man; 
the universe is the city of God and in time He will 
be the light of this city where "there will be no 
more night, neither sorrow, sickness, death or 



134 PLAN OF CREATION 

pain," for the former conditions will haev passed 
away. We shall not then see planets half in dark- 
ness, as now we do. Nowhere in the universe nor 
in the minds of men will there be any darkness. 
The universe will then be very much smaller than 
it now is, and in this contraction, this falling to- 
ward the sun of the so-called fixed stars which is 
a constant action, the astronomers have conceived 
the solar system to be swinging around some 
larger system. 

The truth is so much more wonderful than man 
has been able to conceive, to have revealed the sun 
as the home of the God-Head form would have 
made mankind a race of cringing cowards and 
superstitious slaves. It can be done now only by 
virtue of the fact that the mind of man is now un- 
folded sufficient to know that nothing happens ac- 
cording to the whims of any kind of hocus-pocus, 
but that we are governed by fixed and unalterable 
law. We have but one hint in the Bible of where 
God dwells, and that is where we read — "and I 
saw an angel standing in the sun," for the God- 
Head form would appear to be about the size of a 
man as seen from this earth. All Scripture has an 
exact meaning, and in time we shall know what is 
meant by each passage. All revelations must come 
in their time and season. 

It is useless to command a helpless child to run 
from danger. It is equally useless and foolish to 
expect anything from man if his salvation de- 
pends entirely upon something outside himself. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 135 

His light and his guidance must come from with- 
in. This does not mean that he can not learn any- 
thing from the world outside himself, but it does 
mean that if he can only be saved by the arbitrary 
will of God or Christ, he can do nothing for him- 
self, but stand and wait like a traveler at a station 
for a coming train. Man has charge of his own 
mind and can make bad or good use of his facul- 
ties, just as he wills. If he wills against God and 
His Christ then he will be lost for he is only asked 
to conform to the requirements of unalterable and 
unchangeable law. If he wills to live in his animal 
faculties and refuses to yield to the higher, he 
must perish for only the spiritual and higher can 
endure for eternity. 

Therefore man should seek wisdom from anv 
and all sources and should make good use of his 
time and talent While here in the flesh. Salvation 
is held out to us, but no man can be forced against 
his will. God is powerless to save us unless we 
are willing to be saved. 

And we must save ourselves by complying with 
nature 's conditions, and these are the same to all. 
There are no favorites for God loves all and 
would that none should perish. And these are not 
arbitrary conditions, but are fixed principles and 
laws that must be obeyed or conformed to. 

Let us lay up our treasures in heaven, rather 
than spend so much time in an effort to get rich, 
which wealth would only serve the double pur- 
poses of giving us a stronger love for the things 



136 PLAN OF CEEATION 

of this earth and at the same time a hatred for 
truth and justice. The jewels of rich thought, 
the memory of a life well spent, are all that we 
can possibly carry with us when we leave this 
earthly plane. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 137 



THE DYNAMIC GOD-HEAD!!! THE KING 
OF THE UNIVERSE ! ! ! 

The God-Head form is a crystallization, as all 
forms are crystallizations. All forms of matter 
crystallize when free to do so, as water into ice, 
alum and salt into crystals, and molten metals in- 
to solids. The sun is the home of the God-Head 
and is composed of astral or soul substance and 
electricity or spirit. There is not an atom of phys- 
ical matter in the composition of the sun, for at 
the time matter rushed together at a common cen- 
ter, physical atoms were cast out, leaving a cen- 
ter of perfect harmony. From this center of per- 
fect harmony all other centers were established. 
From a center of inharmony no other center is 
possible; therefore nature's God-Head must have 
been perfect from the very beginning. And by 
perfection freedom from all disturbing elements 
is meant. Wisdom and knowledge are possible 
only by thought ; but nature builds her bridges ac- 
cording to law and not by mental calculation. As 
she builds the bridge she crosses it, and the pro- 
cess of reasoning comes only after there is some- 
thing to be seen and analyzed. 

All planets were formed around vortices, and 
the vortex at the universal center was so intensely 
active at the time that great center of harmony 
was being established that no live atoms of mat- 
ter could pass through this fire and remain live. 



138 PLAN OF CREATION 

As they were torn from the astral and spirit and 
reduced to dead atoms, they were cast out, just 
as the particle of matter in the eye becomes pain- 
ful and must be cast out. Only the fine gold re- 
mained and this is the basis for the belief that the 
God-Head took on perfect form then and there. 
The free electric current then formed other cen- 
ters from this perfect center, until the law of affin- 
ity was satisfied. 

Each and every human being is polarized in the 
God-Head and in the sun, for we are bound to the 
universe through its God-Head, as the planets 
are. It is no more a superstition to believe in a 
God-Head form over nature or through which the 
forces of nature act than to believe there is no 
such head. And fuller light will reveal the fact 
that an organized universe without a God-Head 
form is as impossible and unthinkable as a light- 
ing system without engine, wires or dynamo. It 
is possible we may find a way to transmit power 
by wireless means at some future time, though 
we will hardly be able to do this except through a 
generating plant. The God-Head form is the uni- 
versal generating and distributing plant ; without 
this God-Head form a universe would be unthink- 
able. We might imagine the unreasonable, but in 
the past such imaginings have proven of no value. 
In imagination men have fancied our sun giving 
off light and heat and getting nothing back in re- 
turn. They have imagined that which could not 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 139 

be and which will be explained in the chapter on 
planets. 

The God-Head is one-eighth the diameter of the 
sun ; His form must be in proportion to the head 
diameter, for we bear the image of God and He is 
therefore in form like ourselves. The magnetic 
points which bind us to the God-Head form are 
about one foot in diameter while the sun polarity- 
is eight feet in diameter and both polarities are 
circular in form. The body of the sun is 64,000 
miles in thickness for planets are not solid bodies. 
They are shells. It is upon these eight foot circles 
that God reads our fading and forming thoughts 
for in no other way could He "know our secret 
thoughts. " To think is to open and close the elec- 
tric circuits, as in telegraphy. A break in the cir- 
cuit at the earth station is instantly responded to 
by a break in the sun and fixed star stations, just 
as the click of the telegraph instrument in San 
Francisco is answered by a like click in New York 
or other distant point to which the message is di- 
rected. The one is visible to the soul's eyes, the 
other to the soul's ears. The one is in the form of 
sound the other in the form of light waves and 
these produce images in the mind. It is visible 
telegraphy. The mental image is instantly called 
forth from its retirement in the soul ocean to 
make its bow and instantly retire, to come again 
and again as often as the right mental key is 
struck. And the right mental key in this case is 
vibration in its multitudinous forms, and vibra- 



140 PLAN OF CEEATION 

tion calls the substance of the soul from retire- 
ment that is in agreement with that voice. The 
flower image will be composed of astral substance 
that will be different from that which forms the 
face of a human being. This is crystallization on 
the astral plane, a more perfect form of crystalli- 
zation than is possible on the physical plane. At 
the God-Head center, not only the thoughts of men 
and angels take form here but all of nature's oper- 
ations show forth and God sees things as they 
really are while we "see through a glass darkly.' ' 
Nature is bound by inseparable ties to the God- 
Head form ; hence it is but natural that everything 
happening in the universe should be cast upon 
this universal screen in motion picture form. Men- 
tal pictures are crystallizations and are of short 
duration. They dissolve as fast as they form. 
Except for this constant action on the part of na- 
ture, the soul would crystallize into a solid, as 
water into ice. If not dissolved the instant formed 
these crystallizations would remain in the mind 
and make further thinking impossible. So long 
as the substance of which mental images are 
formed remain blended with the soul, they have 
much less tendency to crystallize. It is only when 
the substances out of which mental images form 
leap to the point of mental expression, that the 
tendency is strong to crystallize into solids. In- 
deed, it might be that something of this kind takes 
place in certain forms of insanity, when the afflic- 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 



141 




ted stares with fixed gaze 
as is often observed. 
"LIVING JEWELS IN 
MY CROWN OFLIFE" 
At the end of creative 
or formative period of 
creation, the so-called 
fixed stars will settle 
down and form a chain 
of worlds around the 
great central sun as here illustrated ; while at the 
same time the then perfected human soul will take 
its place inside the great House of God and will 
be the "living jewels in His crown of life." "How 
can you love God whom you have not seen," and 
how would it be possible to love a God who would 
forever remain invisible to us? It is shortsighted 
to imagine that we could love or even respect a 
formless head over the universe. As a matter of 
fact there could be no formless head. It is plain 
enough that there could be no such head as a form- 
less head. As impossible as it would be for God to 
know our thoughts except they take form in His 
own mind. No man, not even God, can see or 
know what another thinks only to the degree that 
these same thoughts form in his own mind. Christ 
frequently pointed his hearers to a personal God 
for he spoke many times of his Father, of His 
wisdom and power, and as being not here on this 
earth, but at some distant point from the earth. 
We were then too weak to bear or hear the full 



142 PLAN OF CBEATION 

truth, hence such facts must be left to a future 
time when superstition had been largely overcome 
by inventions, by universal education and by a 
more active imagination than prevailed at that 
time. Nothing has meaning to us that can not 
manifest through form. We have reached the age 
of reason and the human mind is therefore capaci- 
tated to trace any effect to its cause. Of course 
there are millions yet in darkness and under the 
power of superstition, and this can only be over- 
come by a direct revelation and by the efforts of 
those more advanced. Except for a manifestation 
from the cause world, a few might read this book 
and speculate over it, but fewer still would accept 
it as true in more than minor points. 

The God-Head form or personal God idea no 
more destroys or opposes the declaration that God 
is spirit, than placing water in vessels destroys 
the fact that it remains water whether in the 
ocean, lake, river or tank. The spirit can act only 
through vessels. The steam manifests its power 
in and through the engine, not after it escapes 
into the open air. The spirit can only be known 
to us in the form of personalities. 

And seeing that the real man is spirit, the idea 
of a personal God does not in the least oppose the 
idea that God is spirit. It may oppose men's 
ideas, but this only proves their ideas false. In- 
telligence, love and wisdom can only manifest 
through personalities — never out of them. We 
could no more love God except in personal form 



OE SWORD OF TEUTH 143 

than we could love insensible perfumes, or invis- 
ible beauty. Hence Christ asks the question how 
can we love God whom we have not seen, for he 
knew it was impossible for us to love the invisible, 
except through the visible. 

We can love the visible, but never the invisible. 
God revealed His personal qualities and form 
through the person of Christ, for he bore the form 
we bear, and he was just in all his ways. We can 
love one we have not seen because it is possible for 
us to hold the image of another, in mind, and as- 
sociate it with good qualities. Thousands of his- 
toric characters claim our admiration for quali- 
ties they manifested. We can love God through 
the Son and we can love the Son through others 
who reflect his unselfish qualities of mind. Why 
did Christ ask the question how we could love God 
whom we had not seen, if he did not wish to point 
to a visible God-Head? No Bible believer will ac- 
cuse Christ of a hap-hazard use of words. He 
always spoke of definite things and pointed to 
facts, though he did not always explain exactly 
what he meant, and for the reason that knowledge 
ahead of its time is evil instead of good. 

Those who imagine that Christ controls the 
solar system have not the faintest conception of 
underlying truth. Before men and angels were 
created planets had to be formed, for no being 
could be created in space beyond the atmosphere 
of a planet. Therefore Christ like the rest of us 
was created after the God-Head was formed, and 



144 PLAN OF CEEATION 

after other centers were formed. The universe is 
controlled from within and not from without. 
Therefore all the power Christ exhibited beyond 
what we all possess he drew from the God-Head 
through the law of harmony. All will have this 
power in time though it resides in the God-Head 
form, as the steam in the boiler. Christ never 
claimed this universal power as his own, but al- 
ways spoke of it &s belonging to his Father. The 
earth may have been created through Christ ; the 
Bible leads to such a conclusion, though the origi- 
nal fording may have been changed. For we have 
seen that the church has fallen into the absurdity 
of making Christ and God to mean one person, in- 
stead of two individuals having one purpose. Con- 
sequently it is more than probable that much 
Scripture has been changed to conform to this 
contradictory conception. 

To imagine a universe under the control of a 
man, no matter if this man possessed all wisdom — 
though he be as perfect in every respect as God 
is perfect, is to imagine a universe controlled by 
arbitrary command. It is just simply the ancient 
idea of master and slave, brought down to date. 
The steam engine is controlled through the throt- 
tle, not by word of command. The universe is 
controlled through dynamic mental centers, and 
it can be controlled in no other way. Every organ 
and function in the human body is controlled 
through dynamic mental centers. God or the 
spirit of God does not command some other agent 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 145 

to do its bidding, but it does its own work. The 
wind and the waves did not obey Christ through 
any understanding in themselves but were con- 
trolled through dynamic mental centers of the 
God-Head, and in accord with the law of harmony, 
for " whatsoever you ask, if it be good for you, 
God will give it to you." If you are in perfect 
harmony with God, He will respond to your re- 
quest by a manifestation of power. 

There are those who look forward to a time 
when they think they will see Christ sitting upon 
an earthly throne surrounded by worshippers or 
slaves, for, in accord with the idea, the slave 
would have to be introduced. Yet the Savior de- 
clares that "he who would be greatest among you, 
let him be the servant of all." Men show their 
greatness in willing service, and not by command- 
ing others to do for them what they can more eas- 
ily do for themselves. Christ did not stand around 
idle and command others to do this and that, but 
was fully as active as any of his disciples while he 
was on earth. And yet there are millions who look 
forward to a time when they imagine he is coming- 
back to earth and sit in royal robes on a golden 
throne and have servants to wait upon him and 
serve him as idle kings are now served. The 
power of the universe resides in the God-Head or 
must express through it, for this God-Head form 
is the only form extensive enough to receive this 
power. Size is essential in some things, as, for in- 
stance, it •would be impossible to convey the 



146 PLAN OF CEEATION 

waters of the Mississippi river through an inch 
pipe or confine the ocean in a gallon measure. 
Neither of these things is possible, as even a child 
must recognize. Therefore the God-Head form is 
a large being. The God-Head form, is the great 
dynamo of the universe. And in declaring this 
fact the writer is fully conscious of the fact that 
it is no more wonderful that this is so than that 
dynamos of a given size must be employed to con- 
vey power and distribute it throughout a large 
district as a city. 

Everything unthought of before is regarded in 
the light of superstition. But we must learn to 
examine all things and reason with them as with 
the so-called ordinary things of life. There are 
no ordinary things; all the facts of nature are 
wonderful fa.cts, and we shall in time come to 
appreciate all and give to each the value it calls 
for. 

There is but one life substance. If more than 
one, each would act against the other, or if two 
or more were in agreement, more than one would 
be unnecessary. The reason for the diversity of 
manifestation is found in the nature of the sub- 
stance through which force acts. Sunlight appears 
red, green or blue in passing through colored 
glass, but it is the same substance in different 
manifestations. All forms of manifestation, or 
all natural phenomena are accounted for by dif- 
ferent qualities of substance, and difference in 
density of matter. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 147 

"In my Father's house are many mansions." 
Imagine an open space more than 750,000 miles in 
diameter and yon may gain some idea of this 
house of many mansions. If you occupied one 
mansional apartment, there would be more than 
350,000 miles of space between you and the walls 
of this great universal home, which would be mil- 
lions of times larger than our scientists have 
imagined the universe to be, for it is one thing to 
think in terms of figures, and quite another to be 
able to see with perfect eyes the vastness before 
you where there is no darkness. But our imagina- 
tion can not here and now conceive the immensity 
of our home as it will appear to us when We shall 
see with perfect light and with perfect eyes. The 
grandeur, the glory, distance are all past finite 
description. The imagination is here eclipsed. 
Facts are more wonderful than fiction, for nature 
leads the imagination. It can not rise above her. 

The number of human souls will be about the 
number that could stand on the outer surface of a 
globe a hundred thousand miles in diameter, 
allowing for each, one circular foot, or the num- 
ber that could stand on the surface of the earth, 
allowing a circular foot for each, multiplied by 
120. 

Nature being the expression of mathematical 
law, moves along lines of creation until complete 
satisfaction along each line is reached. Man eats 
until he feels satisfied. Nature works until she 
is satisfied and this comes only when the law of 



148 PLAN OF CKEATION 

mathematical chemistry has been run out to its 
end. The universe is a far more perfect design 
than anything man can design. Man could not 
design anything if he Were not himself a design. 
If the brain organs of man were not designed to 
do the work we see him do, he could not possibly 
design anything. In view of this fact, can we 
wonder that nature will reveal the purpose and 
the order of her design through the brain organs 
and soul faculties of man? It is the purpose of 
nature to reveal her works and her designs 
throtigh the mind of man, here and hereafter. 

Nature works through faculties and brain or- 
gans ; from mental dynamic centers our bodily or- 
gans are repaired, built and operated. Not all 
acts are acts of intelligence or conscious recogni- 
tion, but all operations in the human organism are 
controlled through brain centers and from brain 
centers. And this is true of the universe; each 
and every planet is controlled through the mental 
faculties of the God-Head form. But as growth 
and repair in our own bodies proceed independent 
of conscious recognition, but always from mental 
centers, so does the God-Head form control the 
universe. Or, more properly speaking, the uni- 
verse is controlled through the God-Head form, as 
the electric current through the dynamo, or the 
heart action through a mental faculty and brain 
organ. 

It is no more necessary for the God-Head to 
observe every movement in nature than for us to 



OE SWOED OF TEUTH 149 

be conscious of every action and operation of our 
vital organs. Nature moves in agreement with 
fixed law and this needs no eyes to guide it in its 
minor operations. But the forces of nature do 
and must proceed from dynamic mental centers, 
as surely as light and heat from vibratory motion. 

"Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is per- 
fect.' ' There are many who think man will never 
reach the high plane of perfection of the God of 
nature. But the truth is that God will make the 
soul of man as perfect as Himself, thus proving 
His power and wisdom. For the God-Head would 
not spend an eternity with beings inferior to Him- 
self in wisdom and perfection, any more than He 
would consent to pass to a lower plane and live in 
degradation. Eternity is a never ending circle 
and conscious life would be unendurable to any 
conscious being not made perfect. As God is per- 
fect, so will be all that He has created. Man is to 
be the companion and joint heir with God in all 
His glory, wisdom and appreciation, perfect as 
God is perfect, when finally "all power is given 
into your (our) hands." In that perfect state we 
can draw upon the God-Head for all power, for 
we will be one with Him then as Christ now is. 

Nowhere in Scripture will it be found that God 
does not purpose to carry His creation to a state 
of perfection, and there is but one kind of perfec- 
tion. Pain and suffering will drive man from the 
lower to the higher, when finally, a glimpse of the 
beauty of the higher will draw him upward and 



150 PLAN OF CREATION 

onward at a rate he does not now dream to be 
possible. 

God can do many things not dreamed of by us, 
but pouring wisdom and knowledge into the mind 
like pouring water out of a pitcher is not one of 
the possible things. God can not do impossible 
things, nor is His power limited by this concep- 
tion. The slow unf oldment of the human mind is 
sufficient proof that man must do his own think- 
ing and acting. Had there been a quicker or bet- 
ter way, God would have doubtless discovered it 
and employed it. The same law that formed the 
God-Head and the universe through this head, 
formed man and will make man as perfect as the 
God-Head, spoken of as the Father. Nature can 
not stop short of perfection in all her parts. The 
human soul and faculties as a part of the God- 
Head, must become as perfect as this universal 
form. For, be it borne in mind, man is part of 
the universe and is closely related to the God- 
Head. 

The arbitrary and conscious direction of every 
act in nature by the God-Head would become a 
load nothing short of a curse. This life agent acts 
much after the manner of the flowing river, con- 
fined in a channel and flowing because it must, and 
not because it has any desire or choice in the mat- 
ter. Its inherent nature is to be active. The 
river, like the locomotive, moves in a fixed chan- 
nel ; were it conscious of its motion or had any de- 
sire in the matter, it would need no channel in 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 151 

which to run, but would take whatever course it 
willed to take. 

The king's wisest subjects are as intelligent as 
himself. The carpenter must be nearly as wise as 
the designer of the building. An agent with wis- 
dom to execute God's commands simply because 
they are God's commands would have to possess 
the wisdom and power of God — would have to be 
God. 

This then is what we find: There is but one 
God and one power in the universe, and this is 
called God or spirit, and it is an unbroken and in- 
divisible substance. It is the life and power of 
the God-Head through which it acts, as the elec- 
tric current through the dynamo. And it is no 
less fixed law in the one case than in the other, for 
the universe is not controlled by arbitrary com- 
mand. God is spirit, and spirit is life and power. 
It is the law. The God-Head wills to act only in 
accord with this law, and we shall finally reach 
the same high plane of willing obedience to this 
laiw. Where we read that God rested from His 
labors, we are not to understand from this that 
the forces of nature had finished their work and 
had ceased to act ; the forces of nature can never 
be inactive but will move ever onward as steadily 
and as surely as the river in its channel. That 
Scripture that declares that God rested from His 
labors refers to the conscious God-Head and to a 
particular work and to an anxious period, in 
which the wisdom and guidance of the God-Head 



152 PLAN OF CREATION 

was required. And the fact that rest was possible 
reveals the fact that mental direction and con- 
scious guidance is not always needed; it also 
shows that conscious guidance may be necessary 
at times. As brought out in another chapter, the 
earth with organic life on its surface is an exten- 
sion of the plan of nature, and required mental 
direction in part of the process. During the for- 
mative period of this earth and until after man 
was # placed on its surface, the God-Head could not 
rest. But the human race in its infancy needed 
no special attention ; it was only after great num- 
bers appear that we find it necessary to hinder 
man along certain lines and to encourage him to 
move along certain other lines. From this time 
on there was no rest for the God-Head, and will 
not be until after the overthrow of the present 
capitalist system of robbery. Then God will rest 
for another thousand years, for during that pe- 
riod man will enforce rules of justice, and as long 
as justice rules it is possible for God to rest. 
During the time of planning and erecting the 
building the directing power of the builder is re- 
quired. But after the building has been finished, 
the power of gravity will hold it on its foundation ; 
the builder may then rest from his labors. 

Three Manner of Beings. — The figure three 
quite often appears in nature ; as, for instance, we 
have solids, gases and fluids, three distinct forms 
of matter. And our own bodies are made up of 



OE SWOED OF TEUTH 153 

flesh, bone and blood, while in space we have three 
kinds or classes of planets, the very large, the 
medium size and the very small. And so it is in 
many instances that could be named. Man him- 
self lives in an organism that is made up of flesh, 
bone and blood, neither one of which could be 
taken from the organism without destroying it. 
And in like relation we find man joined to two 
other beings, neither one of which could exist 
without him or he without them. The universe is 
a great system of electric coils, that may be com- 
pared to an endless rope wound a number of times 
around a large pulley and passed once around a 
great number of smaller pulleys, and all revolving 
rapidly. Now it will be seen that if we cut this 
rope at any point at all, that it would at once un- 
wind itself from the small pulleys and wind itself 
around the large pulley. And this is exactly what 
would take place if a human being and his Ego 
could be destroyed ; the great endless cable of the 
universe would recoil and roll itself up in one 
huge globe at the universal center. 

From the foregoing remarks we are not to infer 
that the dissolution of the human soul would de- 
stroy the universe; but the destruction of the hu- 
man Ego would destroy the universe, for this 
would break the circuit as surely as severing 
the endless rope, as above pointed out, would 
cause it to unwind from the small pulleys and 
wind itself around the large driving pulley. And 
since it is impossible to separate mind from the 



154 PLAN OF CREATION 

individual organism, the Ego must exist, other- 
wise there could he no organism. Even the small- 
est animals and insects have egoes, and which are 
just as essential to their existence as are the car- 
bon points to the arc light. But the ego of the 
insect and very small animal is on what we may 
call a short-circuit. These circuits are not com- 
pleted through the sun and fixed star, but are 
confined to the earth. For this reason the lower 
forms of animal life are not in communication 
with celestial objects. The eyes of mice and other 
low forms of animals are sensitive to light, but 
are not conscious of the existence of the sun, nor 
can a celestial planet image itself in their minds. 
In order to see the planets out in space, it is nec- 
essary to be on the universal circuit, for we really 
see the planets through the God-Head, and He 
sees them through our eyes. But in order for Na- 
ture to complete the circuit, there must be a third 
being, and this being is called Archangel or Demi- 
god. The breaks in the current in the case of the 
arc light is at the carbon points ; in the universal 
circuit the breaks are at the Ego points — in the 
God-Head, Archangel and man. There can be no 
breaks in the circuit except at the Ego point, for 
here the current is reduced from a foot cable down 
to the size of a single thread of a spider 's web, as 
elsewhere pointed out, as it passes through the 
human organism. 

The current that comes direct to each of us 
from the God-Head or sun center, passes direct 



OE SWORD OF TRUTH 155 

to a fixed star and through the head and organ- 
ism of an Archangel, and from the fixed star back 
to the sun. In the chapter on the planets will be 
found fuller information on the subject of planets 
and how formed. As will be seen in that chapter, 
the claim is made that the earth and the other 
revolving planets of the solar system were made 
out of the matter of countless numbers of very 
small planets, and known to astronomers as as- 
teroids. But the current that went out to those 
small planets from the sun, now must go to the 
larger planets and complete the circuit through 
the planet Jupiter. This will confuse the reader 
to some degree, and must be here explained. 

At the time the planetoids (asteroids) were be- 
ing broken up to form the larger planets of the 
solar system, the Egoes were all passed through 
the sun and earth, and were carried back to the 
sun through the other planets and returned to it 
through the planet Jupiter, and on back to the 
earth. Many of the inhabitants of the asteroids 
had scarcely made any advance at all; and many 
of the organisms were broken up with their 
homes, only the Egoes remaining, for a book that 
contains only trash, will not be missed when it 
is destroyed. It would be unwise to speculate 
over how many of the inhabitants of the asteroids 
were destroyed with their astral shells or homes. 
But millions were destroyed, and their Egoes 
brought to earth and chained in the soil and in 
the vegetable, and later in the animal and finally 



156 PLAN OF CREATION 

in the human form. But how much of the uni- 
versal current passes through the body of the 
earth cannot be stated; but it is known that when 
a human soul leaves the earth and passes to the 
next planet, that the circuit continues through 
the earth and follows the soul, and that it flows 
direct to its fixed star from wherever the soul is. 
Also we can know that as much of the universal 
current passes through the body of the earth and 
back to the sun through the planet Jupiter, as 
there were human Egoes that made the complete 
circuit at the time the earth was formed. We 
know, also, that the earth has sufficient current 
to heat it and give it light, for the wisdom of the 
God-Head was and is sufficient to enable Him to 
carry His work to completion. 

The God-Head knows all things, past, present 
and to come, because nature reflects all her laws 
through the God-Head, and it is upon this foun- 
dation fact that we read, "God saw the end from 
the beginning." Man meets with many surprises, 
but God knows what is to be, for He sees the uni- 
verse and its laws reflected from the inner sur- 
face of the sun. And this is the reason for the 
warnings recorded in the Bible; for nature could 
do nothing if she did not exact penalties for vio- 
lations of her laws, and reward those who obey 
her laws, but only so long as they obey. No re- 
ward for good conduct in the past, if the conduct 
of today is bad. Nature accepts the human coin 
at its face value, and she makes no allowance for 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 157 

what it has been or what it may be hereafter. If 
the human coin is good today, regardless of how 
spurious it may have been yesterday or may be 
tomorrow, nature receives it at its face value, and 
in doing so she puts the wisdom of man to shame. 
"As a man thinketh, so is he," and for this very 
reason man can be an angel today and a devil to- 
morrow, and in converse order. 

The arc light holds a deep-seated fact before 
us, which, if understood, will give us a good idea 
of the operations of our minds. At the carbon 
points of the arc lamp the current is greatly re- 
duced in size or volume, as it leaps from one point 
of the carbon to the other; the flame of the lamp 
is not a standing flame, but is a rapid succession 
of flames, and just as the images in the mind are 
a rapid succession of images, save for which there 
could be no mind. The mind is conscious only 
of breaks, disturbances and variations, and not 
in undisturbed stillness, as many might imagine. 
An unbroken landscape with no variations what- 
ever, if such a landscape could be found, would 
produce no effect upon the mind at all. 



158 PLAN OF CEEATION 



THE LAW OF GRAVITY. 

The power of gravity is manifest to all. No one 
disputes the existence of this power. Every atom 
of physical matter and every object on and near 
the surface of the earth is under the power of this 
binding force. But the power of gravity is not 
the same as the law of affinity ; the power of grav- 
ity grips all physical matter of every class and 
nature and draws it toward a common center, 
while the law of affinity draws certain classes or 
kinds of matter together and acts upward or away 
from the surface of the earth as well as downward 
toward its center. The one has power over phys- 
ical matter only, while the other acts only on 
astral or soul substance. The magnet gives us 
some idea of the action of the law of sympathetic 
attraction or law of affinity, which is the same 
thing. The law of affinity or sympathetic attrac- 
tion acts in opposition to the power of gravity, 
for the magnet will draw bits of iron or steel up- 
ward as well as downward, away from the surface 
as well as toward the surface of the earth. Gravity 
has no power at all over astral substance that has 
freed itself from physical matter, while affinity 
would be powerless or non-expressive in physical 
matter except for the fact of the presence of 
astral substance in such matter. A body charged 
with all the electricity it will hold will weigh no 
more than when not so charged, thus showing that 



OR SWOKD OF TRUTH 159 

gravity has no power over astral substance, for 
electricity is always clothed in astral or soul sub- 
stance, as declared in other parts of this book. 

The power of gravity is not the action of a mov- 
ing force, but is the gripping power of an electric 
sea that surrounds the earth, and which probably 
does not extend much beyond thirty miles from 
the surface of the earth, and possibly not over 
half this distance. The action of this power is 
much like that of an elastic band that is stretched 
over an object, as around the hand or wrist. Grav- 
ity has but one office to perform and that is to 
bind physical matter together and draw it toward 
a common center. And the knowledge that it 
shows no sympathy is the influence that teaches us 
to obey it. Life's course is much like a route 
across a vast plain to a city beyond. To reach the 
city you must follow the right course. Disregard 
directions and you lose your way. It is this law 
of death we are so often warned against, for this 
power knows nothing else than to grip with grim- 
like death all that comes under its power, and this 
is everything that is bound in physical matter. 
Nature's conscious God-Head can not make the 
terms easier for us. Had it been possible, it 
would have been done. 

It is the rankest nonsense to imagine that God 
can in a direct way think and act for us. Man 
must think and act for himself. And it is neces- 
sary to obey the law, for death grips the soul that 



160 PLAN OF CEEATION 

fails to live in harmony with the golden rule. To 
get right in both head and heart it is necessary for 
us to develop sympathy by mentally putting our- 
selves in the place of others. Do not be afraid to 
do this. It will not hurt you. Plain honesty will 
make us right and keep us right. Love of self and 
forgetfulness of the rights of others places us 
under the power of this law of death. If one is 
disposed to consider himself big and the other fel- 
low small, he should get love and sympathy to 
throbbing in his heart. Self-love is suicide and 
death. The action, or rather, the power of grav- 
ity might be compared to an attempt to walk with 
the feet bound to the ground by elastic bands. To 
walk with ease and freedom requires an act of the 
will, conscious or otherwise. The mind releases 
the hold of gravity on the foot that is thrust for- 
ward, and transfers it to the other foot, thus tak- 
ing much of the weight out of the lifted foot until 
it again comes in contact with the ground. Were 
this not true, every effort to lift the foot from the 
ground and thrust it forward would be resisted by 
a pulling sensation similar to that which would be 
felt if the feet were chained to the ground by elas- 
tic bands. Walking is only possible through faith. 
This is proven in the case of the hypnotic subject 
that is told that he can not walk. In this state of 
doubt he stands glued to his tracks, struggle as he 
will. Those partially paralyzed and those with 
artificial limbs walk with great difficulty. They 
feel the weight of the leg and foot thrust forward. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 161 

Were the power of gravity suspended for one 
brief instant, all would be lost. The atmosphere 
of the planet would instantly separate from the 
body of the earth, the wall of fire surrounding the 
great stomach of the earth would instantly leap to 
its crust and reduce the earth to its elemental or 
atomic state. And this would be done as quickly 
as a stick of giant powder would split a boulder. 
(For further information regarding the so-called 
wall of fire the reader is referred to chapter on 
planets.) 

The theory has been advanced and has been ac- 
cepted by many, that we are held to the earth by 
outside pressure. But those who support this 
theory have overlooked too many facts that con- 
tradict it. Under such a form of gravity, a body 
in a vacuum would be without weight, while it is 
known that a body in a vacuum weighs slightly 
more than when exposed to atmospheric pressure. 
A steel rail or other body of metal weighs less in 
deep water than out of it. There is considerable 
buoyancy in the atmosphere, hence the balloon 
floats in air, when filled with lighter gas. If an 
outside force held us to the earth, all objects hav- 
ing the same surface exposure would have the 
same weight. Under such a form of gravity only 
top surface pressure could give weight. Bottom 
pressure and side pressure would overcome 
weight. To expose any other than the top surface 
would be to overcome all weight in the body thus 



162 PLAN OF CREATION 

exposed. A wooden dining table laid flat on the 
ground, would, under such a form of gravity, 
weigh more than a locomotive. Indeed, under 
such a form! of gravity, a locomotive would not 
weigh anything. 

Gravity, as such, has power over physical mat- 
ter only. Over astral substance it has no power. 
Astral substance is soul substance, the substance 
of which the nerve and brain cells are the sheath. 
Thus gravity has power over the soul, but only to 
the degree that the soul is yet bound in the flesh. 
We think ourselves out of these flesh body shells, 
as the chicken pecks its way out of the egg shell. 
Electricity is the power we call gravity, and the 
nature of this agent is to encircle and embrace 
something, and so long as it is confined to the 
single atom of matter, it knows no bigger world. 

The earth is a larger atom and as fast as 
growth and decay or these processes break the 
hold of this spark of electric fire on the smaller 
atom, it embraces the larger atom and its affec- 
tions are transferred to this larger world. The 
flesh body is composed of these atoms of matter 
and these are the direct cause of abnormal appe- 
tites and cravings, which if given way to confine 
our thoughts and affections within ourselves, ren- 
dering us nearly as blind as the spark of life in the 
single atom which knows no larger world than it- 
self. And at this point it is well to note the fact 
that this life agent acts always in or through 



OE SWORD OF TRUTH 163 

channels, and not in the manner of an explosion. 
Electricity is life and the only power in the uni- 
verse, but it acts through channels, as the river 
conveying the waters of a lake to some lower 
level. The lake as a whole is comparatively still, 
but its waters are in active motion in the river. 
If this life agent was active in a promiscuous 
sense, a universe would be impossible. 

The same law that gives lovers the desire to em- 
brace each other is the law of force that binds our 
physical bodies to the planet earth: To come 
from under the power of this blind force, which is 
the power of death, we must wrench the tiny 
sparks of life, with their astral covering, from the 
body cells, and thus from the grasp of this power. 
This can only be done by earnest effort. 

To close the mind to truth, justice and mercy is 
to close the door of escape. The ideal Christ 
within must have full voice in shaping our lives 
for this spirit points unerringly to the narrow 
way. 

And this power is indivisible and unbroken, and 
it is the spirit of God, for spirit is not divided as 
atoms are. The tiny spark blends with the great 
ocean of spirit as water with water, and the blend- 
ing is perfect. 

Gravity is the power of God, for spirit alone is 
life, and it alone can manifest power, for it is not 
a rope of sand, but is unbroken and indivisible. 
But gravity is not endowed with intelligence. 



164 PLAN OF CREATION 

The second death or dissolution of the soul, 
doubtless takes place if the individual refuses to 
turn from his selfish ways, for God does not save 
men in their sins, but from them, if they are to be 
saved at all. If the soul refuses absolutely to fol- 
low the ideal Christ within, then it must perish, 
for only the perfect can enjoy the blessings of 
eternal life. But if the soul suffers the second 
death or dissolution, the Ego is transferred to the 
vegetable world to begin its upward march over 
again, and from the vegetable kingdom up 
through the animal and back to the human, gain- 
ing strength as it climbs. Thus do we see the 
possibility of nature being defeated in individual 
cases ; for where the soul will not unfold it will de- 
generate and finally disintegrate for want of 
sympathetic binding power. But a book that con- 
tains only trash will not be missed when it is de- 
stroyed. 

But it can hardly be supposed that an intelli- 
gent man or woman would suffer themselves to 
sink to that point where dissolution would take 
place. Pain and suffering in some form or other 
would compel them to form new resolutions and 
to move forward toward an ideal. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 165 



"THE WORD MADE FLESH." 

The principles upon which governments are 
founded and maintained are mental principles; 
they are held before the minds of men and exist in 
the minds of men. Words and principles, aside 
from flesh and blood as we on this earth are af- 
fected by them, are meaningless. There is no 
power in a principle except it be engraved upon 
the heart of man. All the principles in the uni- 
verse, though written out and hung before us, 
could have no power to save us unless we' take 
them into our minds and hearts. The word that 
was made flesh is truth, justice, mercy, and Christ 
fully represented these principles. To receive 
this triune principle from the fountain-head of 
wisdom and power, and carry it to earth and plant 
it in the mind and heart of man required, above 
all else, a vessel without a flaw. No defective ves- 
sel could convey so perfect a principle to an earth 
like this, and transplant it in the minds and hearts 
of a race who, up to that time, had never known 
what absolute justice meant. Ages of suffering 
might have brought out this triune principle in 
the heart and mind of man, though how long it 
would have required to bring about this result 
would be mere speculation. 

It was to quicken the higher mental faculties 
that Christ came to earth. And except the "word 
(triune principle of truth, justice, mercy) be made 



166 PLAN OF CREATION 

flesh," except men in the flesh be made to love this 
triune principle, there could be no peace on earth 
nor salvation for the soul at dissolution of the 
physical body. To awaken this triune principle 
in the mind and heart of man required that some 
one live this principle in his own life, and this was 
fulfilled in the person of Christ. There is no 
other way, nor should there be, for no man who is 
not just and is not willing to show mercy has any 
right to expect justice or mercy. A heaven filled 
with such cold hearted beings would be a hell. And 
when* we are told that there is "no remission of 
sins except by the shedding of blood," this is the 
full proof. Great wrongs are not given up by per- 
suasion but by force. Selfishness becomes less 
selfish after a baptism in blood. The declaration 
has little reference to Christ's blood, and not at 
all in the way generally understood. If Christ be 
"held up — lifted up" in sermon, book, etc., he will 
draw all men unto him ; but if he be not mentioned, 
the spilling of his blood would have saved no one. 
It is by being "Iff ted up" in song, sermon and in 
the spoken and written word that Christ saves. 
And it is by meditation, by loss of fathers, sons, 
husbands and lovers that men are turned from the 
evil thing that caused the war. Thus and thus 
only is there "remission of sins by the shedding 
of blood." All past history bears witness to the 
fact that great national wrongs were not given up 



OB SWORD OF TRUTH 167 

except through prolonged wars in which much 
blood was shed. 

As to faith, we all know that reason begins 
where the five physical senses end. These senses 
must be silenced before reason can begin to mani- 
fest. If man limited his mental operations to the 
range of his five physical senses, he would forever 
remain on the animal plane. And even here, the 
lower animal is better equipped than man. The 
dog is keener of scent, sight and hearing, excelling 
in at least three of the five senses, to say nothing 
of the sixth and higher sense, which enables the 
dog and some other lower animals to find their 
way to distant points and back home when away 
from home. 

Therefore it is more like death than wisdom to 
doubt. Man should seek to prove the reason for 
his doubt, no less than he should seek a reason for 
his belief. So called "blind faith' ' is not half so 
blind as "blind doubt.' ' Doubt is reasonable only 
when there is reason for it. Let no man boast of 
his doubt. The blind man might with as good 
reason boast of his sightless eyes. As to whether 
Judas was forgiven or condemned there is no 
room for contention. Judas was forgiven if he 
repented ; but was not forgiven if he did not re- 
pent, for men are not saved in their sins, but from 
them. We forgive ourselves when we turn from 
evil; we condemn ourselves when we turn to it. 
We would not be asked to obey the will of God if 



168 PLAN OF CREATION 

we had not His voice in our mental make up. The 
conscience, coupled with reason, is the voice of 
God in man. We may sear the conscience, but we 
can not silence the voice completely. As long as 
there is guilt within, it can not be forgiven, except 
arbitrarily, and we are not dealt with in this man- 
ner. 

Christ brought to earth the sword of truth. This 
sword will yet cut down all evil. The triune prin- 
ciple of truth, justice, mercy could never have 
been established in the world by mere talk, how- 
ever much. These principles had to be reflected 
in his own life. Millions are longing for the bet- 
ter day and thousands are willing to live the 
golden rule. But there is a trinity of evil that 
prevents this. Interest, profit and rent stand di- 
rectly opposed to the golden rule. But what is 
overcome in the parent is overcome in the child; 
a thousand years of the "rod of iron" rule will 
make man a law unto himself; he will be trained 
into a righteous being. Christ is our pattern, and 
we must conform to this pattern. Man can never 
rise above his ideal, though he may sink below it. 

Slavery was well-nigh universal at the birth of 
Christ. Slaves were bought and sold with as little 
regard for human rights as are houses and lots. 
The old slaves were killed, when they could not be 
sold, to save the cost of keeping them. Christian- 
ity could not destroy this evil in a day; it could 
not be overcome in a year but it was made a crime 



OE SWOKD OF TRUTH 169 

for a man to injure his slave and this not so many 
years after Christianity began to spread over the 
earth. The word made flesh is as plainly evident 
to the doubter as to the believer, for men can not 
doubt that of which they have no knowledge. We 
all have some idea of right and wrong. Man can 
not break a law before it has been revealed to 
him. Since Christ, man has known a higher law, 
and now he must live in obedience to this law. The 
"comforter' ' is the Christ within. 

So long as he stood visible before his disciples, 
they would look without instead of within for help 
and guidance. It is not a person but the spirit 
that makes alive. This permeates all things. It 
is the life of the universe and it proceeds from 
God. Christ could not give us new powers. He 
only sought to awaken the powers that lay dor- 
mant in the mind. We already possessed the fac- 
ulties through which he could appeal to us, and he 
had no power or intention of supplying us with 
other faculties. He needed to rouse to activity 
those we already had. We all have some of the 
power Christ himself possessed. We may talk 
and persuade, but we must practice what we 
preach. We must live the life we ask others to 
live. Christ did this, and so far as we know he 
was the only one who ever did live the perfect life 
up to that time. "He that hateth me hateth my 
Father also," for after your own soul has re- 
vealed to you this state of perfection, you hate 



170 PLAN OF CREATION 

God for having placed within you this holy prin- 
ciple, unless you are willing to live in obedience 
to your conscience. 

We must not despise the more perfect way, for 
sooner or later we must travel the more perfect 
way, even though Christ had not come to earth. 
The soul can only reach its goal by a straight 
course. It is not the fault of the truth that con- 
tention has grown out of Christ's teaching; the 
fault is in those who are opposed to this teaching. 
Had his purpose been only to bring peace to the 
world* Christ would have taught reconciliation on 
old lines and thus bound men in slavery for all 
time. But his mission was to set the captive free, 
by revealing the true and only way. We see this 
same contention in the effort to free the wage 
slaves. Is there any other way to establish right 
conditions except by bitter contentions? Not so 
long as there is selfishness to contend with. Of 
course, the setting free that was promised was 
not merely the setting free of the slaves, but it was 
to set man free from his own animal nature, to 
lift him above the animal plane. 

Not all Christians are in the church, nor all in- 
fidels out of it. Pruning a tree will make it no 
less fruitful. It must be dug up by the roots and 
cast out entirely, to destroy it. 

The passover supper also has its lesson for us. 
In eating and drinking is represented a principle 
that must become a part of our very lives ; it must 



OE SWOBD OF TRUTH 171 

be as the food we eat ; it must be our strength and 
our nourishment. As the body would die without 
food, so will the soul that fails to incorporate the 
Christ principle of truth, justice and mercy into 
itself. The lesson is a deep one. It was put in 
the manner it was to draw out the truth, and to 
show men that it is not enough merely to mentally 
grasp a principle, but that this principle must be 
incorporated by digestion and complete assimila- 
tion. We are not merely to acknowledge the 
golden rule as a good rule to be guided by, but we 
must be guided by it, we must assimilate it ; must 
make it a part of our lives; it must circulate 
through our heart's blood, and it must be the gov- 
erning principle of our thought and conduct, one 
from which we have no desire to be free. We 
must learn to love this rule ; we must incorporate 
the whole Christ, we must put on the full armor. 
A literal eating was not thought of, for that would 
have been cannibalism, and the mission of Christ 
was to make men better, not worse. We do not 
grow to be like the things we eat ; the eating must 
be mental assimilation of the great Christ prin- 
ciple. The word must become flesh in each and 
all, for no unclean thing can come into the pres- 
ence of the God of justice, mercy and power. The 
terms are the same for all, and it would be im- 
possible to make them easier or different. 

Since following Christ in the literal sense was 
not possible for all, it was not meant for any. 



172 PLAN OF CREATION 

Those who did follow him in the literal sense fol- 
lowed him also in the spiritual sense and the true 
sense, for a literal following without a spiritual 
agreement would be anything else than following. 
Bible students will recall the fact that the paschal 
lamb was to be all consumed ; there was to be none 
of it left. And so the true follower of Christ must 
incorporate all of the Christ principles, otherwise 
he will find himself limping his way to heaven, 
with the road growing ever longer and the load 
heavier. He must put on the whole armor of 
righteousness. The setting of the members of the 
family one against the other is but a necessary 
prelude to a right condition and understanding, 
which can come only by separating the wheat 
from the chaff. The sword of truth must cut 
away all that is false, for the true and the good 
can endure for time and eternity. Better contend 
for what we believe to be right, than to be luke- 
warm or indifferent. Better be right and have 
every one else against you than be wrong and re- 
tain the friendship of all. In pointing out the 
way men should go Christ is not to blame for the 
course they take or for the contentions that grow 
out of it. 

The contentions we see going on in the world is 
but the effort to separate the chaff from the 
wheat. And this separation must take place. 

Why a Pope! Protestants no doubt would re- 
sent the imputation that they are in great meas- 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 173 

tire to blame for the existence of a pope and his 
power over the minds of millions of professing 
Christians. But when we consider that nearly, if 
not all Protestants consciously or unconsciously 
look upon God as a dictator, who arbitrarily for- 
gives sins, it is not difficult to see that the pope's 
position is founded in their faith. Dictatorship 
has no other foundation than that of arbitrary 
rule. If God can arbitrarily forgive sins, there is 
no reason why the Pope of Rome may not do so. 
The idea rests entirely upon the power to enforce 
or compel. And if a man can hold the position of 
dictator over the world, he may forgive sins as 
well as God, since it is merely a matter of will. 
And it matters little whether the sinner pays in 
coin or in confessions, so long as he does not give 
up his sin. 

The truth is, God forgives the sinner, but not 
the sin, and only after he has given up his sin. 
The pope forgives both the sin and the sinner, and 
for a money price allows the sinner to continue on 
his course. Granting indulgence to continue in 
the sin, is not different from forgiving sins that 
have not been given up through the power of re- 
pentance. If the sinner has not repented he can- 
not be forgiven, for God can only forgive after re- 
pentance, not before. Sin can not be arbitrarily 
forgiven by either God or man, for the simple 
reason that its nature remains unchanged. The 
moral law is a fixed principle, and God can no 



174 PLAN OF CREATION 

more forgive the unrepentant sinner than He can 
change Himself and His laws. 

The sinner forgives himself in his own con- 
science when he turns from his evil course; he 
condemns himself when he turns to evil, for the 
voice of God is in the human conscience. The for- 
giveness must come from within, and not from 
without. And when the Catholics understand this 
principle, they will not pay a priest or pope to do 
for them a thing God Himself is powerless to do ! 

Most Protestant churches preach the doctrine 
that moral conduct counts for nothing, unless it 
bears the stamp of Christianity. This is in effect 
to declare that sins can be arbitrarily forgiven, 
and that nothing is good unless there be an open 
profession. And thus is the foundation laid in 
Protestant faith for Catholic confession and con- 
fessional. A good intention followed by a good 
act needs no profession to give it strength. A 
good deed backed up by good motives, is its own 
strength. A charitable act by a doubter is of 
much greater concern to God than are the barren 
professions of so-called Christians. Let those 
who doubt this declaration, turn to the twenty- 
fifth chapter of Matthew and make a close study 
of that chapter. The belief in a pope and his 
power would have disappeared a thousand years 
ago, had it not been for the blind selfishness that 
has steadfastly remained in the various Protes- 
tant churches. An understanding of the truth and 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 175 

love of the same, will free the world from the 
evils that curse us. 

God can not change a sin into a virtue by arbi- 
trary rule ; neither has He the power to change a 
virtue into a sin. If He had such power, then He 
could make all things right by a mere act of the 
will. But the idea of arbitrary rule and forgive- 
ness of sin apparently dominates the mind of the 
average church member. The idea seems to pre- 
vail that all that is necessary, or at least the most 
necessary, is to give lip praise and credit to God, 
and still continue to live the selfish life. Profess- 
ing Christians appear to take pride in the fact 
that they profess a belief in God, while the 
doubter does not. It is well-nigh past belief that 
intelligent men and women could be persuaded 
that a pope or priest' can forgive sins. And it is 
fully as hard to understand why Protestants place 
faith and professions above good deeds and right 
motives, in view of the fact that the Bible plainly 
declares that "faith without works availeth noth- 
ing.' ' Why the dialogue in the twenty-fifth chap- 
ter of Matthew, if not to bring out the fact that 
acts of charity and kindness are placed far above 
professions? Faith is a blessing, but not a vir- 
tue. It is a bright star of hope to the well-mean- 
ing and makes the cross of life more easy to bear. 
To the selfish it is an accusing witness. If one 
throws himself into a swift stream of water and 
pulls a drowning man from it; if he relieves suf- 



176 PLAN OF CKEATION 

fering wherever and whenever possible, and does 
a thousand and one other good deeds, and all with- 
out hope of reward, is he not "proving his faith 
by his works V J Is that not the right way and the 
sensible way? If getting up before an audience 
and declaring one's self a Christian would make 
him one, the world would now be in the middle of 
the Millennium. 

To "confess our sins' ' to a man is to degrade 
both ourselves and him. At best, such confessions 
would be less out of place in a criminal court of 
law than in the "house of God." 

Subject of Baptism. Our great fight in this age 
is to overcome the false beliefs of a past and more 
ignorant age. The ignorant age had to be, but 
it must not be allowed to continue indefinitely. 
The reflection of an error that is essential to a 
revelation of the truth, is just as essential to the 
mind as the truth it reflects. The Bible reflects 
both the plain statement of facts and the errors 
necessary to reveal them, to a world of people in 
a more advanced age. This again shows us the 
wisdom of God, for no man can understand a 
truth that is not contrasted with an error or 
untruth. Evils of all kinds and errors of every 
nature and variety had to be permitted to express 
in the world, and for a long period of time, that 
we of this age and those of future ages might see 
the evil of evil and the good of good. All things 
are seen by contrast. Therefore let no one imag- 



OR SWORD OF TEUTH 177 

ine that God has led any of us to believe in errors. 
The truth is before us all the time, and it is both 
our privilege and our duty to discover it. 

Water baptism had an uplifting effect on those 
of the past who complied with that practice and 
who had a strong faith in it. And to those of 
today who still believe firmly in it, it still holds a 
moral value, for all are advanced in morals, by 
complying with what they conceive to be moral re- 
quirements. But it must be noted that it is the 
belief in water baptism, and not the submersion, 
that stimulates the resolve to live a better and 
cleaner life. Crossing oneself or walking back- 
wards, would have the same eifect on the mind, if 
the belief that it would do so existed in the mind. 
The point is that water baptism is not essential 
to the soul's salvation, for if it were, then men 
and women could be saved by arbitrary rule, and 
good deeds and good intentions need not be in- 
cluded. 

One writer, in speaking of baptism, declares: 
"a correct understanding of the subject of bap- 
tism involves the fate of every man and woman on 
earth." A matter so important, would have been 
established in the conscience and in the reason of 
each individual. A subject over which there is a 
world of conflicting ideas and opinions, cannot be 
essential to the soul's salvation, otherwise God 
must be regarded in the light of a tyrant and dic- 
tator, and in the end, would be as liable to save 



178 PLAN OF CREATION 

those who have the courage to stand out against a 
foolish ordinance or waste valuable time in a 
study of it, as He is to save those who act the 
part of cringing cowards, afraid to obey the 
conscience in them, and which is our only true 
moral guide in any emergency. If God's will in- 
cludes ordinances that are mere outward per- 
formances, and that have no saving power in them- 
selves, then indeed would He rule by arbitrary 
authority, and moral goodness would count for 
nothing, unless it chanced to be included in the 
ordinances. 

The whole subject of moral justice and the 
range of man's conduct, are not covered in the 
Bible. If we are to confine ourselves to doing 
only the things spoken of, and regard not the rest, 
we can sin as much as we like, and yet be saved, 
by observing the written ordinance. The discus- 
sion of the subject of water baptism seems a waste 
of time, for if we are to get to heaven by mechan- 
ical obedience to ordinances, we had just as well 
remain indifferent about good intentions, only in 
so far as they touch the subject of an ordinance. 

The conscience is the voice of God in man. 
Nothing is good that this voice does not feel to 
be, and nothing bad, that does not so appear to 
the individual himself. Outward signs and out- 
ward things are to teach, but the voice of ap- 
proval or condemnation must come from the voice 
of God in each individual, for God cannot speak 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 179 

to us collectively; He speaks to each individual 
through his own conscience — the still voice within. 
It is our duty to seek light and guidance from 
one another; but since each individual of neces- 
sity must rely upon his own judgment many times 
during the course of life, and must obey his own 
conscience, there being no one near him to counsel 
with, it follows naturally that the individual's 
conscience is his only moral guide. And this still 
voice within is to be obeyed as well after being ad- 
vised by others, as before, though perhaps the act 
will be under the direction and guidance of better 
judgment. 

It is possible to curse oneself and bless another 
by the same act. To illustrate: Suppose you 
have a neighbor whom you do not like ; you go to 
him with the pretense that you wish to help him, 
but with the intention of getting him into trouble. 
You give him what you suppose to be a twenty 
dollar counterfeit coin. It turns out that the coin 
was good. But your intentions were not good. 
You have thus rendered your enemy a service ; 
though you have at the same time cursed your 
own soul with an evil intention. If you reverse 
the order of this, you bless yourself, but uninten- 
tionally bring the other man to trouble. Good 
deeds and good intentions bless the soul. Evil 
intentions curse the soul. 

We inflict on ourselves the wounds we intend 
for others. The world may not know of our crime 



180 PLAN OF CREATION 

and there may be no court of law that would try 
us for the crime of evil intention, unless there be 
some outward sign to indicate it. But the court 
of our conscience has already tried the case, and 
it has found us guilty. "He that thinketh to do 
evil, hath already committed the sin," or words 
to that effect. There are many fine distinctions 
to be drawn in life's course, though none of them 
are so complicated that the individual does not 
know when he does wrong. The way is plain, and 
none need err therein. 

If baptism works any good in the sinner, it must 
be through the faith he has in it, and not the bap- 
tism itself; for if submerging in water washed 
away sins, it would have the same effect if one 
fell into the water by accident. Many subjects 
are cured of pains and other forms of disease, 
through faith. "Thy faith hath made thee 
whole," though not the water you were baptised 
in nor the words said over the performance. 

"I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if 
righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead 
in vain. ' ' The writer of the pamphlet from which 
this quotation is taken, with many others of like 
faith and belief, appears to take a wrong mean- 
ing out of the above words. It is very true that 
the law alone, unaided by our willed effort, would 
not save us. But it is just as true that faith in 
Christ cannot save us. What Paul really means 
to point out is that if we relied on the law to save 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 181 

us, in the same sense that we rely on the law to 
circulate the blood in our veins and repair the 
waste in our organisms, that we could never reach 
a higher plane than the one on which we find our- 
selves. Christ pointed out the way, and he in- 
vites us to follow him and carry our cross. And 
this is possible only by willed effort on our part. 
The law, without our willed effort, would never 
make us like our pattern. The law will grow the 
crop ; but it will not prepare the ground, sow the 
seed or harvest the crop. We must do this for 
ourselves. We must strive to be what we have 
been shown we should be. We are not like inani- 
mate objects. We are to be governed from within, 
and we must will to do the things we know we 
should do. The mission of Christ was and is to 
bring us all into harmony with God, for God is 
nature's expressive head. He is the very heart 
of nature, and when we are in harmony with God, 
we are then in harmony with all the laws of the 
universe. 

But the harmony between an individual and 
God, can only be established through the will of 
the individual, for the will is the mainspring of 
the mind. If we will to do only things God would 
have us do, then we cannot go wrong. But if we 
will to have our own way, regardless of what 
affect our actions will have on others, then we 
turn from God, for the will of God is founded on 
absolute justice to all human kind and to all life. 



182 PLAN OF CREATION 

And since God alone is in a position to know with 
absolute certainty, the ultimate of all actions and 
intentions, it follows naturally that through 
Christ, God alone can lead us to a final ultimate 
of peace and happiness. Any other course is 
simply the old story of "the blind leading the 
blind and all falling in the ditch." If we have no 
faith in our guide, how can we have faith in our- 
selves ? Are any of us wise enough to know the 
ultimate effect of any act or intention? For this 
reason has God placed His voice in the conscience 
of each individual. We must will to obey the still 
voice within us, for it is, after all, good or evil in- 
tention that will judge us in the end. 

Subject of Sanctification. Much has been said 
about sanctification, and men get up before audi- 
ences and make long talks on the subject. It is 
not here disputed that there are exalted states in 
religious experience. It is quite possible for all 
to reach this high plane. But man is not like a 
board nailed to the floor — he must strive each 
day and each hour to strengthen his resolves, for 
there is no safe resting place on this earth plane. 
It would be harder for one on the higher plane to 
fall to the lowest level, than for one with a much 
weaker resolve and less experience. But the pos- 
sibility that he can fall is ever present. The so- 
called sanctified man might have further to fall 
than would the man of more shallow experience; 
but one step at a time downward may finally carry 



OK SWOKD OF TRUTH 183 

the more resolute man down to the lowest level. 
The convert who gets up before an audience and 
declares that he is sanctified, and feels that he is 
safe, may yet be undeceived, and is likely to be. 
No man in this life ever gets to that point where 
he can rest in absolute peace and be sure that he 
will not fall. The only assurance any of us can 
have against a fall, is the constant effort to climb. 

It will be remembered that Peter denied his 
Master, and this was at least one step downward. 
A little more pressure would have compelled a 
second step in the same direction. We cannot 
know beforehand what the nature of the temp- 
tation will be, or, how we will feel about it when 
brought face to face with it. Great hunger might 
tempt the hand to reach out and take what others 
claim. And this might start a train of thought 
that would undo all former resolutions. And 
since Peter's religion was not nailed down, it is 
unwise for any of us to imagine that we have a 
better or different brand. We cannot know in one 
state of mind what we would do or would not do 
in another and different state of mind. And our 
states of mind are largely governed and controlled 
by our surroundings and states of health. The 
well-fed and contented man of today may find 
himself on a desert next week or next month, 
hungry and dying of thirst. He does not know 
what he would then do in order to save his life. 
Peter saw the possibility of dying with Christ, 



184 PLAN OF CEEATION 

and he did not like the idea of dying just then and 
in the manner planned. So we see him take what 
he considered the safest way out of the danger 
that threatened him. Nor must we think to pass 
judgment on him ; how do we know but we would 
do even worse under the same conditions? It is 
not wise for us to judge in such matters, though 
it is highly important that we should strive to 
make our environment favorable to our good reso- 
lutions. 

A Christian can no more grow in the midst of 
national corruption, except he fights it, than can 
a tender plant grow and reach full maturity, sur- 
rounded by noxious weeds that take away its 
nourishment. The churches today seek to save 
men and women who are being choked to death by 
an unholy and ungodly system, and yet pay no at- 
tention to the system itself ! You cannot lift men 
and women from the gutter and hold them up to 
the stature of men and women in the midst of evil 
conditions you do not fight, no more than you can 
grow the tender plant to maturity that is being 
choked by noxious weeds. And why did you ever 
think you could do so 1 What evil influence led you 
to think you could save men's and women's souls, 
in an environment that is starving their bodies, 
and which is an outrage on justice and the higher 
human sentiments ? 

It is impossible for one to retain his own man- 
hood under existing conditions, except by making 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 185 

a bitter fight against these national wrongs, to 
say nothing about converting men and women and 
keeping them converted, in the midst of such en- 
vironments! So far the church has waged its 
fight against the sins of the individual, while 
ignoring the sins of the nation. A system that is 
wrong must of necessity produce wrong growths. 
The system under which we live, destroys more 
than can possibly be saved. And even those who 
claim to be saved, are far from being, for no man 
or woman can be a true Christian and ignore the 
ungodly system that robs the many for the benefit 
of the few. If the professing Christians are so 
ignorant as not to know that God does not and 
can not approve of the system under which we live, 
then they are in more need of saving, than is the 
drunkard they are trying to pull from the gutter, 
or the prostitute they are trying to find a place 
for at starvation wages at disheartening work! 
The truth cuts, but some one must speak the truth ! 
As it is, national evils have been winked at far too 
long. If this nation and its free institutions are to 
be saved, vigorous condemnation of political and 
social corruption must at once begin ! 

Men and women workers in the churches, who 
are ignorant or indifferent to national corruption, 
surely are not properly equipped to go forth to 
battle against the rising tide of individual sin, nor 
have they any right idea of how best to save, the 
souls of men and women. Our national Govern- 



186 PLAN OF CREATION 

ment is corrupt from its source to its mouth, and 
in order to make healthy the members we must 
doctor the head and the trunk of the "grand man" 
of the republic. Imagine, if you can, the children 
remaining pure in mind and heart, when the 
parents are active in wrong doing ! 

To save the plant we must fight the weeds that 
take from it its nourishment. As the child is in- 
fluenced for good or evil by the sentiments and 
condyct of its parents, just so are men and women 
in all walks of life, influenced by the conduct of 
the ruling or controlling heads of a nation. 

If only we could convert the church people, this 
nation would be saved in the short space of six 
months. Even if only the active heads of the 
churches lifted their voices against our national 
sins, the national household would soon be put in 
order, for evil brought to light by pulpit exposure, 
could not long survive. The shame would be so 
great and the humiliation so overpowering, that 
continuance in evil would be impossible ! Will the 
pulpit exorcists of this nation take advantage of 
their opportunities, and thus fulfill in the highest 
degree that which the suffering masses of our 
people have the right to expect of them? This is 
what Christ expects, and it is what God demands 
of you! Also, it is what you yourselves declare 
to the world when you take up the profession of 
preaching the word of God. Are you doing it, or 
even, are you desiring or intending to do it ? The 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 187 

need is here ! The harvest time is upon us ; and 
the reapers must now do their work, or a worse 
fate will befall us than the sins that now curse us ! 
When once a national sin is exposed, and the 
necessity for its removal made plain, silence and 
indifference on the part of those whose duty it is 
to speak out against it, become more dangerous 
than the most deadly explosives. Let us bear in 
mind the fact, that while God is not the heartless 
monster some church people have pictured Him 
to be, nevertheless, He will force a nation of 
people to live in accord with the light of its con- 
victions. Once a nation knows that its national 
sins can no longer be covered up, indifference and 
peace of mind is no longer possible. Our national 
sin will from this time forward become a night- 
mare to those who are responsible for this heart- 
less condition. Freedom from the evil will become 
far more desirable than the retention of the evil. 

Evil is a thing of darkness ; it can not live in the 
light. Knowing this, somie have sought to have 
laws passed to prevent the press from exposing 
evil. But that would not stop the growth of the 
evil ; once it was known that the press would not 
be allowed to expose certain evils, those same 
evils would spread so rapidly that the whole 
nation would rise in armed rebellion against it! 
It is too late in the world's history, to attempt to 
shut off the light ; light will continue to come, and 
there will be floods of it from this hour on ! 



188 PLAN OF CREATION 

The Conscience. The conscience has its polar- 
ity in the heart. The reader must bring himself 
to understand that knowledge without feeling, is 
not much different from a calculating machine 
that is made of iron and steel. Therefore the 
reason for that Scripture which reads: "As a 
man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Strictly 
speaking, we do not think with the heart ; but we 
do feel with the heart, and this feeling is reflected 
to the heart from the mental faculty of conscien- 
tiousness, and which alone is the true voice of God 
in man, as relates to moral conduct. But it is the 
duty of the conscience to seek light on all matters 
relating to moral conduct, and to act accordingly. 
It is possible to hold out for moral principles that 
were based on conditions that existed in the past, 
but which it would be unreasonable and unjust to 
contend for at a later period of time. 

Today there is a great world-war raging, in 
which each nation is fighting for its national ex- 
istence. And it so happens that we have in the 
presidential chair a man who is stubbornly con- 
tending for strict adherence to what is known as 
international law, a law that was framed some 
forty odd years ago, and relates to a war machine 
that existed at the time it was written. And seem- 
ingly our president has taken the "bit in his 
teeth," and is determined to have his own stub- 
born way, regardless of the consequences. The 
great trouble with him is that he insists on ad- 



OR SWOKD OF TRUTH 189 

hering to conditions that have passed, instead of 
adjusting his mind and heart to the conditions as 
they exist at this time. The conscience is right 
only in so far as it can justify its actions. 

And this shows the wisdom of majority rule; 
never again must this nation place plenary 
authority in the hands of a few men. We must 
hold all power in our own hands. Then the major- 
ity will be responsible for what may follow any 
course of action. 

International law can have no bearing on inven- 
tions that do not exist at the time it is framed, 
unless it forbids such inventions and their use. 
Even in time of war justice may be maintained. 
The war is no sign that the masses of mankind 
have lost all sense of justice, or even that the 
sense of justice has been weakened in the minds of 
any. A more perfect conception of justice will 
rise from the ashes of this war now raging. The 
fact that the planet still revolves on its axis and 
goes on its course around the sun, is proof that 
millions still love justice. For if no one loved 
justice, God would destroy the earth. This earth 
would be destroyed in less time than it takes to 
write these lines, should the inhabitants of this 
planet suddenly become unjust in mind and heart- 
felt feeling! 

In order to have any justice on his side, our 
president would first need to order the destruction 
of all our submarines, and insist on it that no 



190 PLAN OF CKEATION 

more be constructed, before ordering a nation at 
war to obey a clause in international law that 
would render submarines useless. We must be just 
and reasonable, even in the midst of war. 

God chastises one nation through another, and 
just as He chastises an unruly child by punish- 
ment inflicted through its parents. He does not 
dwell here among us only in the spirit. And God 
is never indifferent to our actions nor unmindful 
of our needs. Today the world needs a severe 
lesson of rebuke, and through much bloodshed it 
will give up its sins. For it is still true that 
" there is no remission of sins, except by the shed- 
ding of blood,' ' as declared nearly nineteen cen- 
turies ago. And this being true, our business is 
to put our own house in order, and leave the out- 
come of the present world-war in the hands of 
God, who will continue to "work good out of evil," 
and who will do so as long as evil exists in the 
mind of man. 

In justice we may do what we can to bring the 
war to a close ; but we are not to take the side of 
one nation against that of another nation, for that 
would be a crime and we would have no excuse to 
offer. Even while the war rages and men are 
dying by the thousands, our capitalists are plot- 
ting to steal world markets after the war is over. 
A severe rebuke will be administered before the 
end of the world trouble is reached. 

Love of truth and justice will right all wrongs. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 191 

Let us cultivate a love for truth and justice, and 
this world will be a happy home for all. 

Faith in God would have averted the present 
world-war. Faith in the power of money has 
brought it on. Then who is ready to laugh at 
faith and praise the lack of it? Lack of faith in 
a living God of justice has brought the world to 
ruin! Passive, watery faith has no power over 
the mind of man. But a living, active faith in 
God instead of in gold, would have made it im- 
possible to have even prepared in the least meas- 
ure for war. And to the degree we ourselves 
prepare for war, in that measure will we show our 
lack of faith in a God of justice. We cannot get 
away from this conclusion, and if we go ahead 
on " preparedness' ' lines, freedom and justice 
will bleed at our feet. A tooth for a tooth was 
the practice of long ago. Vengeance belongs to 
God. An invasion of Mexico will be primarily 
for gold. Literally it will be the old law of an 
eye for an eye brought down to date. Those who 
would take up the sword will die by it. If not 
literally, at least spiritually. War is a devilish 
method of retaliation and devastation. God's 
ways are ways of peace. The former will make 
us both feared and hated by all the peoples of the 
western hemisphere. The latter will lead us to 
peace and happiness. 



192 PLAN OF CREATION 



THE MARRIAGE INSTITUTION. 

Without the institution of marriage the home 
is impossible, and it is in the home that the child 
receives the sweetest impressions of its life. 
There are few even among the best and wisest 
women who can take the place of the mother. 
The child needs the tender care and training of 
its mother and the protection and influence of its 
father. The child that loses either of its parents 
during the tender years of its life is to be pitied. 
The mother is well-nigh indispensable in the life 
of the child up to ten or twelve years of age. Of 
course, thousands of children do not know what 
a mother's influence is, but who can say how 
much happier and better the motherless child 
would have been had it not been deprived of her 
influence and training? 

Hence the so-called contract marriage is a kind 
of nightmare to the more refined and sensitive for 
in this provision the rights of the child seem to be 
overlooked and forgotten. To guard against pos- 
sible disagreement by a marriage contract is 
about as unreasonable as to abandon a selected 
plot of ground as a building site out of fear of an 
earthquake when there was no record of an earth- 
quake having visited this particular section. Di- 
vorce or power of separation will always be in 
vogue where there is a reason for separation, 
hence the marriage contract or contract marriage 
is a useless provision. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 193 

The contract marriage offers an inducement to 
look for other attractions since it is binding only 
for a limited time, and may be terminated by a 
second agreement. The right of the child to 
parental protection is as sacred as life itelf, so 
long as the parents live and are free to give such 
protection. 

One must depart from a belief in the ideal 
Christ and continued life beyond the grave before 
he can take up such doctrines as free love and 
marriage by contract. The soul has a beauty 
apart from mere beauty of face and form, and so 
long as the heart is right the union should be 
unbroken. The contract marriage reduces the 
marriage institution to the basis of a stock farm 
in which the offspring are treated as mere ani- 
mals, without desire or preference. To disregard 
the sacredness of marriage is to treat the issue 
as a mere obligation to feed and clothe and this 
may as well be done by others as by the parents. 
If human life is sacred, then the marriage rela- 
tion is sacred and they who enter marriage as- 
sume all the responsibilities of fatherhood and 
motherhood, even though no children be born to 
them. 

The marriage contract anticipates trouble, and 
it lays the foundation for trouble — even invites it. 
If love and courtship do not reveal objectionable 
traits in the contracting parties, why look for 
their development at some future time? Divorces 
must be granted, for greater evils result from con- 



194 PLAN OF CKEATION 

tinning inharmonious relations than from their 
dissolution. But society should require a season 
of good conduct on the part of the divorced be 
fore granting them the right to re-enter marriage. 
Training Children in Good Manners. To teach 
children good manners in the home, in and out 
of company, at table and in their association with 
their elders and with other children is highly im- 
portant and should not be neglected. They should 
be taught to be thoughtful and companionable, 
but this should not be extended to making them 
slaves to rules of etiquette. When children are 
tauglit to depart from naturalness, they become 
mere human monkeys trained to perform a va- 
riety of tricks; tricks designed by idle brained 
men and women who were incapable of designing 
anything else. You will never find a great man's 
name affixed to a book on etiquette as its author, 
for great men find no time to waste on that which 
trains in deceit and deception. The rules of eti- 
quette might be compared to plans of a battle 
outlined by a commanding officer without first 
having acquainted himself with the topography 
of the country, nature, number and strength of 
his foe. When we meet people, having the bare 
training of good manners and the strength of 
good breeding, naturalness will tell us how to act 
upon all occasions. Etiquette is a straight-jacket 
and to keep out of it is good conduct. There is 
nothing so becoming on all occasions as natural- 
ness ; there is nothing more vulgar and degrading 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 195 

than to act the part yon do not feel — to play the 
hypocrite. Nature saw fit to make ns all different, 
one from the other, and beyond a few simple rules, 
to make us thoughtful and prevent us acting in 
an awkward and clumsy manner, there is no occa- 
sion to go. We find that etiquette trains men 
and women to go through fixed rules of perform- 
ance and none but monkeys and brainless men 
and women will long submit to such silliness, for 
people of good sense and naturalness respect 
others who are polite by nature and not by rule. 

Children should not be brought up in idleness; 
many mothers today bring up their daughters in 
idleness, thinking this a kindness to them. The 
daughter trained to stand idly by while her 
mother does the work will finally come to regard 
herself as above those who work, and her mother 
as specially fitted mentally and physically to do 
the work. Children able to work should be 
trained to help their parents not alone for the 
purpose of making the load lighter for such par- 
ents but to make the child thoughtful and useful 
to society. For children reared in idleness are 
likely to grow to be grovelers. The surest way to 
produce a groveler is to train an idler. No one 
trained in idleness that is not forced can be as 
thoughtful and helpful as those trained in useful 
service. 

Parents should not indulge in idle and silly talk 
in the presence of their children, such as recount- 
ing their own childish actions in youth; for even 



1% PLAN OF CREATION 

though the child may reason that the parents 
were once children like itself, it does not like to 
think of them as having been silly. We have no 
account of our Savior having indulged in idle or 
foolish talk, and it does not appear there is any 
reason why parents should do so, and more espe- 
cially when there are young and tender ears to 
hear such silly talk. Nor does it appear that 
dancing is the highest form of pleasure possible; 
moving the feet to express joy and gladness is 
only so much evidence of the savagery we inher- 
ited .from our forefathers. I am grateful that I 
never saw my parents dance, and it seems to me 
I should have had just a little less respect for 
them had I ever seen them do so. 

Sacredness of the Home. No officer of the law 
should be allowed to enter private homes other 
than his own, as an officer, for such authority 
rightfully ends at the doorstep. It must not ex- 
tend further except by due process of law, as pro- 
vided in our constitution. Complaints of children 
against parents, or wives against husbands should 
be investigated and proper protection given so 
that the child or wife may not fear to tell the 
truth. As far as may be, men and women should 
be free and above the fear of the law; but at the 
same time we can not afford to have women and 
children caged with bears. We must be quite as 
diligent in our efforts to keep poison out of the 
soul as we are to keep it out of our food. If di- 
vorced couples should be compelled to show at 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 197 

least three years of excellent conduct before re- 
entering marriage much evil growing out of 
crabbed dispositions on the part of men would be 
removed. There are men who are as cruel as 
bears and they would threaten the life of a woman 
who would lodge a complaint against them. In 
such cases give the wife a divorce at once. This 
destroys his power over her to some extent at 
least. 

The Green-Eyed Monster! This monster is 
known by the common name of jealousy. It is 
the most senseless and unreasonable of all mental 
qualities, and has been the direct cause of more 
heart-aches than all the wars, famines and earth- 
quakes recorded in history! This may appear to 
be an extravagant statement, but jealousy is far 
more common than is generally known. There is 
scarcely an adult of either sex that has not been 
cursed by this green-eyed monster at sometime 
in life, and millions never know what it is to be 
free from it. It devours reason and blights hap- 
piness, and it often leads to murder, suicide and 
insanity. The man or woman who deliberately 
acts in way to torture another with jealousy, is 
guilty of a crime, and such actions only too often 
end in murder or suicide — if not insanity. 
Jealousy is a contradiction in the human mind, 
and more often than otherwise leads straight to 
the thing it envies. In other words, jealousy fre- 
quently materializes an imaginary condition into 
a fact. The man or woman who is jealous without 



198 PLAN OF CREATION 

a cause, will by this same insane jealousy create 
the cause. The man or woman who is jealous 
without a cause or an excuse, will drive the object 
of their affections from them. And there is never 
any real reason for being jealous, for the unfaith- 
ful one is not worthy of thought or care. The high- 
spirited will not tolerate a deliberate slight, and 
so the teaser will likely find that he has lost what 
he or she hoped to gain by making the other party 
jealous. Love is not to be trifled with, and when 
it is, further relations should be broken off. This 
will probably save many bitter heart-aches; for 
one who will trifle with love before marriage will 
forget to love after marriage, for jealousy is more 
common between the sexes than in other rela- 
tions. Women are quite frequently known to envy 
some other woman a new dress, however, and envy 
is a near relative of jealousy. 

Thoughtful men and women will carefully avoid 
outward acts and conduct that would be likely to 
lead to jealousy. Those whose conduct is such as 
to create suspicion, are unworthy of love and 
affection, and therefore all grounds for being 
jealous are swept away by their unworthiness. No 
sane man will or can love a woman for mere 
beauty of face; if he loves her at all it will be for 
her true womanly qualities of mind and heart. 
Beauty of face is an adornment to a woman of 
good character and disposition; to a lude woman 
it advertises her shame, and is much like a fine 
painting on a cheap canvas or background. Even 



OR SWOED OF TRUTH 199 

the lowest of vulgar men think more of a virtuous 
woman than they do of the low and vulgar, and 
face beauty that is not backed up by virtue soon 
loses all attraction to all men, both low and high. 
Those who fail to rise to the plane of reason will 
remain on the low level of jealousy and hatred, 
for reason lifts the mind above jealousy and 
hatred. There is no reason for being jealous, and 
reason enables the mind to see the folly of it. Mar- 
riages that are not based on soul harmony and 
agreement, must of necessity lead to disagreement 
and misery in all its forms. The man or woman 
who is on the lookout for a new attraction in the 
form of a new face or form, will not succeed in 
obtaining any lasting pleasure or happiness, for 
even though one of good sense and good conduct 
be misled by such person, the mistake will soon 
be discovered, and then will come the unhappi- 
ness that must forever follow a wrong choice. Oil 
and water will not mix; nor can a man or woman 
of good sense enjoy the companionship of one with 
less mentality. The flirt and the philosopher are 
as far apart as the poles. The sensible woman can 
never love a man who is not on the same mental 
plane with her. Or if the man marries a woman 
who is on a much lower mental plane than the 
one on which he stands, he can not love her, 
though she may love him. 

The sensible thing to do is to become right in 
both head and heart, for between the sincere and 
the honest and those who are neither sincere nor 



200 PLAN OF CEEATION 

honest, there is no agreement and never can be. 
The honest man will despise the woman who is 
not honest. And so of the woman; the virtuous 
woman will abhor a man of low caste of mind. 
And even though a man may deceive a woman be- 
fore marriage, if his mind is full of trash, the 
woman will soon discover it after the marriage, 
and then there can be no more peace in that house- 
hold. It is the duty of men and women to test 
each other out before marriage; it is the most 
fatal of mistakes, to marry one morally inferior 
to yourself. But where the ideals are in agree- 
ment, the other differences can be adjusted. And 
while book learning may have much to do in the 
matter, it is at the same time quite possible for an 
illiterate person to marry one highly educated, 
and yet live happily together. Indeed, such unions 
more often lead to happiness than otherwise, for 
they are usually contracted on the strength of 
moral agreement. 

It is quite the proper thing to ask each other 
direct questions before marriage, to find out the 
number of points upon which there is agreement, 
and bring out those upon which you are not 
agreed. Then find out, if possible, whether or 
not the points upon which you do not agree are 
likely to prove bones of contention after marriage. 

There are men and women who seek to control 
absolutely the object of their affection. Love is a 
free expression, and it cannot exist in slavery. 
The loved one will not and cannot return love for 






OR SWOKD OF TRUTH 201 

suspicion and mistrust. If there already exists 
any reason for doubting the faithfulness of the 
one you love, the grounds for jealousy no longer 
exist, and there remains nothing else to do but 
forgive and forget. We will receive in kind just 
what we give, and so long as we ourselves are 
worthy, we will draw those to us who are worthy. 
We will retain in love measure for measure the 
kind we ourselves give. Faithlessness on either 
side breaks the chain of love, and a chain of that 
kind cannot be welded at a blacksmith's forge. 
The welding must take place in the mind and heart 
of the treacherous party to the contract. Women 
who fall in love with a man because of the way 
he combs his hair or because of his white teeth, 
and many rush into marriage with no higher 
ideals, find later on that no number of outward 
appearances will or can wash away the sins of a 
bad character and ugly disposition. If only men 
and women would exercise as much common sense 
in the selection of wedded mates, as they do in 
fitting a pair of shoes to their feet or a collar to 
their necks, domestic troubles would seldom rise, 
and could be so on adjusted when they do. 

And only too often we find women jealous of 
other women because of some possession. Often 
it is nothing more than a new dress or hat. Some- 
times it is an automobile or an ostrich feather. 
This form of jealousy is peculiarly a feminine 
trait, and is not common to men. Our own happi- 
ness is not increased by the diminution of it in 



202 PLAN OF CEEATION 

others. Just in proportion as we lessen the hap- 
piness of others, in that proportion will we 
diminish our own happiness. Our happiness is a 
mental Condition, and it cannot be obtained 
through material possessions. One might own 
the earth and still be the most miserable of human 
creatures. Moral justice is the basis of all happi- 
ness, and it is only those who love truth, justice 
and mercy that are happy or ever will be. 

As contradictory as it may sound, if there is 
"room for being jealous," there is no reason to 
be jealous. For as we cannot "un-scramble the 
egg," neither can jealousy win back lost love. 
The only way to win back lost love is by ceasing 
to be jealous. Jealousy only drives the former 
lover further and further from you. Jealousy has 
about the same effect on love that water has on 
fire. Small quantities result in explosions, while 
large quantities overcome it entirely. 

The one great lesson we all must learn, is that 
we cannot add to our own happiness by making 
others less happy. The one thought with most 
people is to seek revenge. Vengeance belongs to 
God, not to us. When we seek revenge on another 
for any cause whatsoever, we move away from 
happiness and not toward it. We cause not alone 
the object of our revenge to despise us, but we at 
the same time reveal to others an unlovable dis- 
position; and even though we do succeed in re- 
venging ourselves, we at the same time make our- 
selves all the more uncomfortable, for the satis- 



OB SWORD OF TRUTH 203 

faction that comes from revenge is the satisfac- 
tion that fills the heart of the murderer after he 
has killed the object of his hatred! Do you call 
that happiness? Bear in mind the fact that 
hatred, jealousy and revenge are daggers you 
thrust into your own heart, even though you do 
succeed in "bringing to earth" the object of your 
hatred. To hate anything or any one, is to hate 
your own soul; for as we found in the chapter on 
the mind and its faculties, we do not see external 
or material things. We see only an image of the 
person we love or hate in our own minds, and this 
is formed out of the substance of our own souls. 
We hate our own souls by hating this image. We 
cannot love or hate any human being in a direct 
way. We each live in our own mental universes, 
and the freer we can keep these from the insane 
folly of hatred, revenge and jealousy, the larger 
they will grow and the more beautiful will they 
be. We must hate our own souls in order to hate 
any one or anything. And this is the reason for 
that Scripture which reads: "If you have thought 
to do evil you have already sinned." The mur- 
derer has already committed murder in his own 
heart and has inflicted a deep wound on his own 
soul, the moment he made up his mind that he 
would kill the object of his hatred. 

From this we are enabled to see that those 
people in the Southern states, and occasionally in 
some of the Northern states, who have burned 
colored men at the stake or lynched them, really 



204 PLAN OF CREATION 

committed a crime on their own souls! These 
brutish men did not and could not touch or injure 
the soul of the man they lynched or burned at the 
stake, though they did succeed beautifully in in- 
flicting wounds on their own souls, and before 
these wounds heal they will suffer the same degree 
of torture they inflicted on the victim of their 
revenge! We cannot escape the penalties of na- 
ture! There is no possible way we can avoid pay- 
ing back to nature every debt we owe her. Why 
do we so often hear of men repenting just before 
death? Is this not sufficient proof that when the 
soul has escaped from its flesh prison, that the 
voice of conscience will be active, and "burn as 
with fire," until the soul has been purged of sin 
and evil intention? The soul in the flesh may, in 
a large measure, silence the voice of conscience; 
but the soul out of the fiesh cannot do this, any 
more than it can will itself into a state of death 
and inaction. If we could follow the wicked mail 
or woman and see them as they appear in their 
own eyes after leaving the flesh body, we would 
see the folly, the blindness and stupidity of trying 
to make ourselves happy by seeking to make 
others unhappy. 

Let us bear ever in mind the eternal truth that 
we ourselves will pay in sorrow all the unhappi- 
ness we force upon others! Nature is not to be 
defeated or cheated; for just as unerringly as She 
weighs the grains of sand upon the earth, just so 
sure will She weigh our actions and intentions — 



OE SWORD OF TRUTH 205 

good and bad! For "as a man thinketh in his 
heart, so is he," since it is only reasonable and 
just to judge by intentions, and not by acts that 
were not evilly meant. 

And thus again do we see that the wounds we 
intend for others, we inflict upon ourselves. Let 
us not fear that an unworthy person will get more 
than his share of happiness. No one can succeed 
in gaining lasting happiness, without paying the 
full price. There is no lasting happiness that can 
be had for any other coin than love of truth, jus- 
tice and mercy. Man can only destroy the flesh 
body, and after that he can do no more. Nature 
alone can destroy the soul. And God is Nature 
and Nature is God. No fear. that Nature will 
make the mistake of receiving counterfeit coin for 
the genuine. A law that is so evenly and so ac- 
curately adjusted that it weighs (counts) the 
hairs on our heads, will not overlook any of Her 
jewels, but will polish all, even though She must 
wring the heart ^nd compel much pain and suf- 
fering. All of the jewels will be polished and 
made perfect in the end, and so let us forget our 
little jealousies and other little quarrels, for we 
cannot afford to waste time and inflict wounds 
upon our own souls. 



206 PLAN OF CEEATION 



MISCELLANEOUS. 
Can Evil Spirits Control Us? It is not reason 
that persuades men and women to conclude that 
evil spirits can have any control over our inten- 
tions or purposes, for our moral natures are in our 
own keeping. Have evil spirits the power to make 
you believe it right to commit murder, to lie, steal, 
or slander another or to turn a deaf ear to all ap- 
peals for justice and mercy? If they could have 
such power that which you now regard as right 
would in the light of your own reason and con- 
science become wrong; while that which you now 
hold to be wrong would become right to you, and 
if one do only the things his reason and conscience 
tell him he should do, he can commit no wrong. 
If such changes could be wrought in the mind 
of man by beings from another plane, persons so 
afflicted would be insane and not morally respon- 
sible for their acts. The spirits from the other 
side of life can do no more than test us, as a man 
would test the temper of an ax in hard wood. If 
we yield to evil persuasions, it is because we fall 
the way we lean. Persuasions can only come as 
pleadings of our own faculties, for no being can 
reach us except through these faculties. A spirit 
in the flesh may back up his pleadings with 
threats and therefore the evil minded man before 
you is far more of a potent factor for evil in 
your life than all the billions of spirits who once 
lived on this earth and are now invisible to phys- 
ical eyes. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 207 

Would the reader regard his mother as an evil 
spirit simply because she placed before him a 
tempting dish, one he had found to be injurious to 
his health? This is not likely, though such a 
temptation would be tenfold harder to resist than 
any temptation an unseen spirit of evil intent 
could possibly set before us. How can an ex- 
ternal being taint our moral nature? How can 
evil spirits without commune except with evil 
spirits within? As to spirit seances, it might 
be slightly more instructive to attend them than 
to attend a dog fight, and also less harmful. 

The question is, do we serve God by rule, by 
forms and ceremonies or do we serve Him by 
good intentions and right motives? Can God be 
served by a mere act of outward show, or is this 
not rather to mock Him? Is it not mockery to 
keep commandments with the hands and with the 
tongue when at the same time the whole law is 
broken in the heart? If we could serve God by 
what the world calls acts of charity and kind- 
ness, the wealthy classes would find the way to 
heaven smooth and easy, and they could do this 
without feeling the strain. It really seems we 
have in our midst wealth worshippers who would 
regard the gift of a few millions to some so-called 
institutions of charity as entitling the giver of 
this stolen wealth to overthrow the God of justice, 
if this were possible. Let us be thankful that it 
is not possible. 

Sin comes from the heart and not from the 



208 PLAN OF CEEATION 

hand. If a life is lost through accident, there is 
no sin connected with the act. We get out of 
life what we put into it. If our purpose in at- 
tending spirit seances, be selfish, if we go to find 
encouragement in the pursuit of an evil course, we 
will likely find what we look for in that line. 
"God tempts no man," and yet He would be 
guilty of tempting us if He permitted unseen 
powers to lead us to destruction, when it is easily 
in His power to prevent our being led astray. It 
is within God's power to shield us from undue 
influence from an unseen source and He has made 
ample provision along that line. He has placed 
His voice in our conscience, and this voice never 
sleeps except we kill it by willing that it shall 
have no voice in the matter of our conduct. 

These remarks suggest a conversation de- 
scribed by a modern writer, in which certain 
"adepts" are supposed to exercise unlimited 
powers, powers God Himself could not claim and 
does not possess. To quote from the writer, the 
following will illustrate to what depths thought- 
less men will descend. Note the following: 

"Should B succeed, even partially, there 

would be a different turn of affairs, then the 
prophecies of the Bible would come true, or par- 
tially so, depending upon which side wins. 
Should we (Theosophists) win, a black atmos- 
phere would surround the planet and most people 
would perish; only those who live in evolutionary 
development on a higher plane would survive for 



OR SWORD OF TBTTTH 209 

spirituality is a descending power and does not 
come from this planet. Then we would have to 
exist and develop as best we could with what en- 
ergy and power we had absorbed in the past from 
the sun. Our adepts believe that we have, even 
now, absorbed enough to carry on development of 
our own independent of the cause world.' ' If 
this means anything, it means, or is meant to 
mean, that if the sunlight and heat were shut 
off from the earth, these persons could continue 
to live without light and heat. This point will 
be discussed further on. 

Concerning the reincarnation of Christ, the 
same writer says: "Should another incarnation 
like this occur, he would be taken quietly and 
his life (physical body) destroyed, but in such 
a manner that he could not ascend, but would be 
bound to our planet and in that way we would ab- 
sorb him, have something to brace up to and raise 
ourselves in the scale of evolution; in the other 
way there is reaction against us that is deadly. 
It is dangerous to persecute any one, and doubly 
so to fail. Some of our adepts are on the lookout 
at all times." There is no need to quote further. 
This is sufficient for our text, and is a fair sample 
of the conversation referred to. It will be ob- 
served that this writer holds to the idea that wis- 
dom, goodness, life and energy can be absorbed; 
that the "adepts" have power to prevent Christ 
from leaving the earth, and power to "absorb" 
him after his arrival. What is to prevent these 



210 PLAN OF CKEATION 

persons from " absorbing' ' each other, after they 
have ' ' absorbed ' f all their enemies. Finally there 
will be but one monster left. The manner in which 
Christ is to be put to death, is to determine his 
fate. If put to death in some different way, we 
are led to believe he could leave the earth. These 
" adepts" are supposed to have power to pro- 
nounce curses upon people so they can not be re- 
incarnated, and so those who pronounce the curses 
can not be reincarnated, and so far as known are 
utterly destroyed. In this writer's imagination 
they have wonderful power. And not this man 
alone, but many writers hold the same absurd 
idea. They would prevent a human being from 
being reincarnated, and would themselves be 
destroyed for having exercised this power. A 
power, able to destroy lives, waits for them to 
destroy others, and then destroys them. 

Such thoughts as here quoted could only orig- 
inate in the brain of a madman or lunatic, and 
were it not for the fact that a publisher and au- 
thor of some influence used the article with edi- 
torial comment more favorable than unfavorable, 
they would not be worth our notice. Is there any 
evidence to indicate that the arc light will con- 
tinue to give off light waves after the dynamo 
stops? The earth can no more absorb light from 
the sun than heat can be preserved in an iceberg, 
or ice in a heated furnace. Absurd thoughts, 
when clothed in correct language have more 



OB SWORD OF TRUTH 211 

weight with the average reader than the truth ex- 
pressed logically, though plainly. 

If these much feared spirits, having power to 
reduce people to a state of helplessness, yet re- 
frain from doing so, of their own free wills, they 
are not worse than those who fear them. If they 
have no such power, then they need not be feared. 
They are out of reach of our courts, and if they 
have power to injure and fail to do so, they must 
be restrained by their own wills. In either case 
they are harmless. 

The idea that the earth stores up heat and light 
from the sun is contradicted by every cloud that 
hides the sun from view, and by the close of every 
day and the approach of night. It is contradicted 
at each polar end of the earth six months of every 
year. Our light and heat from the sun is a 
constant quantity and if withdrawn entirely even 
for ten minutes, there is no doubt but this earth 
would be frozen into a solid, without a single an- 
imal left to tell the story. No reflective mind 
would dispute this evident fact. In the childhood 
state of the human race it was necessary to lead 
the mind to believe in the existence of a personal 
devil, for in such a being men saw a monster seek- 
ing to pull them down from a heaven above to a 
hell below, and primitive man struggled against 
the effort, and the evil tendencies. Had primitive 
man known that evil thoughts sprang from his 
own faculties and not from an outside source, he 
would doubtless have regarded one set of 



212 PLAN OF CREATION 

thoughts as good as any other set. He might have 
been expected to struggle against external evils, 
though he would hardly have mistrusted evil 
from the workings of his own mind. Even here 
in our own time there are those who allow low, 
vulgar thoughts to debase their minds, and yet 
conceive these thoughts to be injected by a per- 
sonal devil. 

The idea of a personal devil (the embodiment 
of evil) was as necessary to the race in its in- 
fancy as was the idea of good. All good was em- 
bodied in a personal God while evil in all its forms 
was embodied in a personal devil. The idea loses 
its value only in the mind that is wise enough to 
see that good and evil result from the exercise 
of our own faculties, and that in order to develop 
and strengthen our better nature, we must strug- 
gle to overcome our lower or animal nature for 
good can only grow out of evil. And there are 
men who believe that thoughts float through the 
air like balloons or feathers entering the mind 
ready to receive them. How then can we wonder 
that the race in its infancy regarded good and 
evil as being exterior to us, something coming to 
us from the outside world? 

Even yet, men of learning are discussing the 
question as to why God allowed sin to appear in 
the world, as though it were a substance of some 
kind created for the occasion. It would be as rea- 
sonable to discuss why God allows ignorance to 
remain in men's minds. Sin is a form of igno- 



OE SWORD OF TRUTH 213 

ranee. To ask such questions is as foolish as to 
ask why foundations are placed under buildings. 
Good grows out of evil, as wisdom out of igno- 
rance, for all knowledge is comparative; all things 
would be alike to one who had no comparative 
knowledge. 

Another writer, also a publisher, having a na- 
tional reputation, and a wide influence, may be 
cited, for his weakness and superstition concern- 
ing spirits and spirit influence. At one time when 
alone with his own thoughts he received a por- 
trait of his spirit mother, and this is what he 
says of it: 

"Then, to my great astonishment, her portrait 
was instantly and with consummate skill drawn 
on the paper before me." According to his state- 
ment, this was an exact image of his mother and 
the message contained two words, "save souls," 
and this in his mother's familiar handwriting. 
"The words were written three times and with a 
quick movement the pen was made to drop," from 
his grasp. 

But unfortunately for the proof of all this, the 
good man proceeds to burn the portrait and the 
message. What must we think of the intelligence 
of one whose profession is to save souls, burning 
a message presumably sent to encourage him to 
go on in the good work. What harm could a mes- 
sage to "save souls" do to a minister whose de- 
clared purpose was to sav« souls, even though the 



214 PLAN OF CREATION 

message be from some other spirit than that of his 
mother ? 

On another occasion, a supposed evil spirit 
came to thi3 man and after a short conversation 
in which he expressed his desire to serve God the 
spirit declared to him: "Yon are free; yon can 
not come within my province. I only punish 
those who will not ob d, and now I leave 

yon." It seems to have been a pretty good sort 
of spirit to inhabit the infernal regions, one who 
is only serv! ,d, and working in harmony with 

-..justice. That kind of a spirit is not half so 
bad as millions here and now in the flesh. Spirits 
wonld have to lead us through our own faculties, 
or mental organs, in order to influence us, for it 
.ot claimed they can handle us like a man han- 
dles a brickbat. 

From another writer, with editorial comment, 
we have a letter inclosing a prayer. The letter 
res This prayer has been sent by the Bishop 

of Illinoi mending that it be sent to nine 

per He who will not say this prayer will be 

afflicted with great misfortunes. One person who 
paid no attention to it met with a bad accident, 
who recites the prayer for nine days, and will 
distribute it to nine persons, will have great joy 
after nine days. At Jerusalem a voice was heard 
to say: 'He who will say this prayer will 
be delivered from all calamit; nen!' 

Prayer: '0, Lord, Jesus Christ, we implore th 
Oh, Eternal God, have mercy on us and all man- 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 215 

kind. Purify us from all sins by thy precious 
blood, and take us to be with thee eternally. 0, 
Eternal Holiness, Amen. Have mercy on all man- 
kind. Pardon our offenses and deliver us from 
all trials by thy precious blood. Amen. ' ' p 

The publication in which the above appeared 
claims to be commissioned by God Himself to fill 
the world with light, and to interpret the Bible. 
We may well wonder that an intelligent man, the 
editor of a magazine that claims so much for its 
mission, would voluntarily permit it to become 
the vehicle for spreading so much superstitious 
nonsense. Would not a good purpose and a steady 
aim be better than a nine days' prayer? And if 
the prayer quoted is so potent to save, why limit 
to one a day for nine days ? Why not send out a 
hundred or a thousand a day, indefinitely? If it 
is such a good thing and so sure in its results, why 
not send it out by the carload? An honest mind 
knows that it is not the words uttered that saves 
or that brings consolation to the tired soul, but 
that it is the outpouring of the heart's deepest 
feelings, no matter what form the words may 
take, or whether the prayer be formed into words 
at all. To lead men and women to place faith in 
the so-called prayer quoted above, is to lead them 
toward superstition and away from reason. If 
such a voice was heard at Jerusalem as claimed 
above, it was a lying voice, for God does not offer 
salvation on such terms. How cheap our salva- 
tion would be if we could be delivered from all 



216 PLAN OF CREATION 

calamities by the mere utterance of a few words. 
We are not even asked to have faith or to utter 
the words out of a heart full of gratitude but 
merely to repeat the words as the "good Cath- 
olic ' ' counts his beads. If we utter the words, re* 
gardless of our motive, or understanding, we will 
be sure of reaching heaven and escaping the hard- 
ships of this life. 

Still another, this time a woman, puts herself 
forward as a leader and instructor and claims 
healing power. Another woman writes to her: 
"Mrs. B — I took your advice and named the thing 
you have been treating 'phenomenon' and it has 
disappeared. ' ' From Mrs. B 's reply we learn the 
trend of her mind. She says: "Let us know with 
our minds (it would be hard to know anything 
without our minds), feel with our hearts, and 
affirm with our tongues that the things that are 
not in God can not by any sort of means contrive 
to be in the people.' ' That may sound well, but 
let us examine it. Man is ignorant and selfish and 
God is wise and just, if we are to believe the Scrip- 
tures. Disease and pain are as real as health and 
fieedom from pain, for pain and sickness are 
states or conditions and not entities or things. 
Neither is health or freedom from pain an entity. 
This woman writer, in her editorial comment fur- 
ther remarks: "Discord is a breach of harmony. 
So, if there were no basic principle of harmony 
there could be no discord. So, if there were no 
good there could be no evil. ' ' Quite true, for good 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 217 

and evil are mental conceptions — we see one 
through the other. But how account for the con- 
tradiction in the words first quoted? This woman 
should have allowed her wisdom to be her guide. 
That she is able to see the truth is proven by the 
last quotation. Some one has said — " there is 
neither good nor evil, but thinking makes it so.'' 
Things of themselves are neither good nor evil 
from a moral point of view. In the lower animal 
kingdom there is no such moral quality as good 
and evil, though there may be and is pain and suf- 
fering. We are told that if we have thought to do 
evil that we have already sinned. Where there is 
no evil intended there is no sin committed, even 
though death might result from the act, for as be- 
fore stated, sin lies in an evil purpose or intention. 
There is also the false notion in the world that 
neither God nor Christ has any knowledge of the 
physical world. We are told by these people that 
Christ lost all knowledge of the physical world 
and sin the moment he passed from the physical. 
This is neither reason nor Scripture. Conscious 
life for the individual ends where memory's chain 
is broken. Nowhere does the Bible lead us to be- 
lieve that God is not conscious of man's existence 
on earth. And nowhere does it intimate that God 
is not conscious of man's ignorance and sinful 
state. 

Some Practices that shall not Be Allowed. 
It is not generally supposed that the mere habit 
of men and boys lining up along public highways 



218 PLAN OF CREATION 

and sometimes climbing upon top of fences and 
sitting like so many crows, staring at people as 
they pass by, and making remarks that are meant 
to be uncomplimentary, is an offense against 
society. Yet such is the case, for the sensitive and 
refined have their rights, and we must respect 
these rights. Men and boys must go a considerable 
distance away from trails and roads and cross- 
ings, and even here they must behave as becomes 
civilized beings. The passerby shall not be in- 
sulted or humiliated by any act or word. 

Neither shall contests in which the physical 
strength of one is pitted against that of another be 
allowed. This shall apply to base ball games, foot 
ball games, prize fights, wrestling, and all games 
of every kind and nature where there is a contest 
of physical strength. Even the horse race is a 
form of cruelty, and it begets in men wrong states 
of mind. These things may be justified in the 
minds of the winners and their friends, but how 
do they appear to the losers and their friends? In 
all cases where there is a losing side, there must 
be no such game allowed. If we must have games 
to amuse us, let mechanical toys be employed, for 
this is not a difficult task for the inventors of our 
day. 

Men shall not lift their hats to women. Such 
silly practices feed the vanity of women and en- 
courage their weakness. Women are neither bet- 
ter nor worse than men, and there is no reason 
why a man should lift his hat to a woman. We are 



OE SWOED OF TEUTH 219 

all children of one Father, and there are no high 
nor low. We do not lift our hats to our own 
mothers, and we shall not lift them to other 
women. The idea of caste must pass from the 
human mind. 

Nor shall boys be allowed to carry fire-arms and 
shoot even at targets. Teach the boy the " manly 
art" of good behavior. Do not scold without good 
cause, for this puts bitterness in the heart of the 
sensitive and this may last for days. Domestic 
animals should at all times receive our care and 
consideration. We shall see that they are shielded 
against storm and well fed. 

We can learn our duty regarding women's 
dresses and hats from the Scriptures: Ezek. 13: 
18-23. Isaiah 3. Here we get a good idea of the 
foolishness of our day. Unless these stumbling 
blocks are removed from woman's path, she will 
sink to lower levels and drag man down with her. 

Mothers should suckle their own children. There 
are several reasons for this, the foremost of which 
is that the mother's milk is best for the health of 
the child both mentally and physically. A 
stronger love is created between mother and child 
by her nursing it at her own breast. Lack of 
health alone will excuse a mother in future from 
suckling her child. 

Women hereafter shall curb their desire for 
showy hats and dresses, that, in truth, mark them 
as walking advertisements. Scores of husbands, 
fathers and sons, are this hour serving terms in 



220 PLAN OF CEEATION 

states prisons, because of this insane folly of 
women. In order to obtain showy, expensive 
dresses and bats, women have driven fathers, 
sons and husbands to desperation in many in- 
stances, and to suicide and to the penitentiary, in 
a desperate effort to satisfy the foolish desire of 
the ones they loved, and to keep peace in the fam- 
ily and in the home. It is nothing short of crim- 
inal for women to spend so much of their time 
talking and thinking of dresses and hats, that 
make them look more like a lot of lunatics than 
sensible wives and mothers of children. Any hu- 
man faeing, man or woman, looks best in a plain 
dress, and in a hat that does not attract special 
attention. 

There are a few women who exercise common 
sense and reason in the matter of dress; but since 
the great majority of women worship this false 
god, it must come to an end. And men also must 
hereafter dress as becomes sane human beings, 
and not act the part of foolish monkeys. We want 
to preserve both beauty of face and form of body, 
but this cannot be done by trying to shape the 
body to fit the clothes, instead of fitting the 
clothes to the body. It is painful to have to write 
in this strain; but night and day the necessity 
for this plain warning to foolish women has come 
before me, and voice must be given it. Having 
reached the plane of understanding, we have to 
obey common sense and reason, or a worse fate 
than has heretofore been known will come 
upon us! 



OE SWORD OP TRUTH 221 



ASTROLOGY AND ALCHEMY. 

Great claims have been made for these two sci- 
ences, if such they may be termed. The one claims 
to point out important events in the life of the in- 
dividual; the other claims to change base metals 
into gold. Little is to be gained from the study of 
such so-called sciences, for none would profit by 
them, save through their secrecy. 

In a general way and in one or more particulars, 
astrology may enable one to determine a few facts 
in the life of the individual; but no astrologer will 
attempt more than 144 different readings. Each 
of the twelve signs of the zodiac is divided into 
twelve subdivisions, making in all 144, and it is 
not known that any astrologer attempts more 
than this number of analyses. Out of one and one- 
half billion inhabitants of the earth today, each 
one is placed in a class with ten million other hu- 
man beings, each of whom would receive from 
any astrologer the same identical reading. Each 
of the ten million is subject to the same diseases, 
accidents, weaknesses, losses, on the same days 
and under the same conditions, on account of hav- 
ing been born in the same subdivision of the zo- 
diac. Can we derive anything useful from such a 
science? Can we afford to pay for such guidance, 
and be governed by restrictions as to its " lucky" 
and "unlucky" days? Shall we believe that we 
are influenced more by the planets millions of 



222 PLAN OF CREATION 

miles out in space, than by the material things of 
this earth? 

The writer once sent to Professor E 

for a horoscope or reading. Some time previous 
to this, in a dream or vision, was disclosed to me 
the face of an old man whom I knew; he was con- 
cealed behind a curtain, and only a part of his 
face was visible through an opening. He was ad- 
vertised as a great seer — a fortune-teller, who 
could read the future in the stars. Knowing this 
old man had no knowledge of the stars and their 
positions, the fraud and deception was painfully 
apparent to me, and my heart bled for the many 
men and women gathered to hear their fate, none 
of them appearing to have money to spend for this 
wicked pretense. 

This dream or vision rose again in my memory, 

after writing to Professor E (for I had 

quite forgotten it), and the more I thought of it 
the more I became confirmed in my belief that 
astrology has nothing good to offer us. This ex- 
perience is here related in the hope that some 
reader may be benefited by it. 

Reader, whoever you may be, the so-called sci- 
ence of astrology classes you with ten million 
others, and advises you all to begin the same work 
on the same day, and to avoid transacting any 
kind of business on certain other days. You are 
given the same advice and instructions as would 
befit hundreds of millions who lived in past ages, 
as well as billions yet unborn. It may be that 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 223 

there are twelve general types of human beings 
having some characteristics in common, but they 
will differ from each other in all other particulars 
as widely as one type differs from another. Even 
those born at the same hour and minute, differ 
as much or more than others born in different 
signs, or separated by years. 

To believe that certain days are " lucky" or 
"unlucky" is to injure one's self, for who can do 
his best, believing that the planets are acting 
against him? The wise and foolish are born un- 
der all signs, and he who pays least attention to 
"lucky" and "unlucky" days is wisest, at least 
in this respect, and will accomplish far more than 
if he fears the influence of the stars. All days are 
good to him who does the best he can, while all 
days are evil to him who thinks evil and intends 
evil. 

"If astrology is a science, then Judas was just 
as much ordained to betray the Christ as Christ 
was to preach the Gospel and be betrayed," re- 
marks a writer who defends astrology. He de- 
clares that Christ was born a perfect man because 
He was born at a certain conjunction of the 
planet ; that He could not have been a perfect man 
had He been born at any other time. He forgets 
that hundreds, perhaps thousands, were born at 
the same hour the Savior was born, many of them 
from parents of equal physical and mental devel- 
opment, though perhaps less virtuous. 

Astrology is the doctrine of fate. To accept it 



224 PLAN OF CREATION 

is to set aside the law of moral responsibility. If 
fate marks out an evil course for one, and a good 
one for another, there is neither good nor evil in 
either, and Christ was not superior to Judas mor- 
ally. Had Judas been compelled by fate to do 
as he did, he could have felt no sting of guilt. No 
one can be to blame for doing what he is com- 
pelled to do. 

If, as some declare, Judas did only his duty, 
then the thief, the murderer and the criminal of 
all kinds, are not criminals at all, but good men, 
each one performing his part. 

It 'is destructive to human reason to teach a 
doctrine of fate. Man is a free moral agent, al- 
ways has been and always will be. Some things 
he must do, and some he can not do, but these 
have no moral quality. The things of this earth 
influence us far more than do the distant planets. 
As some one has said: " Fools are controlled by 
their stars; wise men control their stars." 

As to the so-called science of alchemy, the 
writer knew one woman who published a paper to 
spread the doctrine; she also had high priced 
books for sale claiming to teach the art of chang- 
ing base metals into gold ; but later on we found 
her engaged in the more lucrative business of rais- 
ing ginseng. Some of the books sold for prices 
ranging all the way from five dollars up to as high 
as fifteen. Now if this good woman failed in her 
efforts to transmute the baser metals into gold, 
aided by such high priced books, what are we to 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 225 

think of the claims made for this so-called sci- 
ence? A careful reading of her paper revealed 
the fact that there was just one or two little de- 
tails to be worked out, and then the great secret 
of the ages would be unlocked. That she quit her 
efforts in that direction and devoted her time to 
growing ginseng, is proof that " transmutation' ' 
was a failure. 

It is reasonable to conclude that should a man 
discover a method by which he could change the 
baser metals into gold, that he would use it for 
his own benefit, instead of offering to sell the se- 
cret. The very fact that a secret of that nature is 
offered for sale, is proof in itself that nothing of 
value has been discovered. 

The same common sense test applies with equal 
force in the case of those fortune-tellers who ad- 
vertise themselves as being able to locate rich 
mineral deposits and to give valuable advice re- 
garding business deals. If they can do so much 
for the two or three dollars they insist on being 
paid for such "valuable information, ' ' why do 
they not go and locate the rich mines in their own 
names, and then if they are really anxious to serve 
others, give the service free of charge? 

The test of reason should be applied where rea- 
son is called for. One able to tell others how to 
get rich, can make himself rich. He would not 
have the least excuse for charging a fee for his 
advice. That a money fee is charged, is proof 
that nothing of value is given. 



226 PLAN OF CEEATION 

Fore-ordination is a fact in nature; but fore- 
ordination of the kind here referred to does not 
fore-ordain men and women to be thieves and 
rascals, liars and hypocrites. The oak is fore- 
ordained in the acorn and the apple in the seed, 
and men born under certain signs of the zodiac 
are fore-ordained to be of a certain type, with 
mental characteristics peculiar to that type. But 
this does not mean that they must be thieves or 
that they must be born into the world deformed 
in either body or mind. If they are so born, the 
fault can be traced to their parents or grand- 
parents. But if a child is not born an idiot, 
through the exercise of reason it can unfold its 
mind and grow up strong in the love of truth and 
justice, and this is all that is required of any of 
us. And love of truth can fill the mind all days 
of the week, for good intentions are " lucky' 9 pos- 
sessions to have at all times. 

The point is that those who advertise as fortune 
tellers have not discovered enough about the law 
governing us to be able to give us much useful 
information. I know a physician who locates dis- 
ease or weak points in his patients through a 
knowledge of birth dates, and he is very success- 
ful in helping men and women to regain lost 
health. He says that astrology is a great science, 
and I am willing to give him credit for being a 
man of honor and ability. But the so-called 
astrologers who claim to foretell future events 
and " lucky days to buy and sell" and who advise 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 227 

men and women not to undertake certain things 
on certain days, and to do so on certain other 
days, have not discovered anything of much value 
to the world. The author of "Back to Nature' ' 
(my good friend, the physician, above referred 
to), has doubtless made a discovery, and he has 
set many other physicians to "guessing"; but 
this does not prove that men are predestined to 
lead immoral lives, for God has placed His voice 
in the human conscience, and it would be a use- 
less provision, if man was compelled to go con- 
trary to this voice. And it is a pleasure to know 
that the author of "Back to Nature' ' lives close 
to his conscience and is as nearly a Christian as 
the cursed capitalist system will allow any of us 
to be. 



228 PLAN OP CREATION 



THE TWO CHERUBIM GUARDING THE 
WAY OF THE TREE OF LIFE. 
The "tree of life" is the human soul. In many 
ways the soul is like a tree. The tree stands erect 
and has many branches. The human soul stands 
erect and has numberless branches. The "way of 
the tree of life" is through the female sex organs, 
for here the soul is molded into human form. 
The human soul had its beginning in the vegetable 
kingdom; from the vegetable it passed up to the 
animal kingdom, from the animal to the human 
world. This accounts for the wide gulf separat- 
ing the hum<an family from the lower animal king- 
dom. We are not made wiser by the things we 
eat. Knowledge and wisdom are not gained in 
this manner. All feelings, emotions and senti- 
ments are polarized in the physical organism, one 
pole of which is in the brain and mind. No feel- 
ing or sentiment could be known to us that is not 
polarized in us. The feeling of sympathy and 
love and their opposites, jealousy and hate, have 
their polarity in the heart while the feeling of 
modesty and sensitiveness and self -consciousness 
have their polarity in the sex organs. As the 
sense of seeing is polarized in the eye and the 
sense of hearing in the ear, we are not to feel 
greatly surprised to find certain forms of feeling 
and sentiment polarized in body organs and func- 
tions. 






OR SWORD OF TRUTH 229 

If one could be born wholly unsexed, one would 
have absolutely no sense of shame or feeling of 
modesty, for these feelings have their polarity in 
the sex organs. Hence the necessity of covering 
the sex organs and hence the method chosen to 
lead our first parents to cover their nakedness and 
to feel ashamed when not so covered. 

At moment of conception the love between man 
and woman meet as two rivers of life and expend 
their energy in imparting life to the new 
organism. 

The man and the woman give up a part 
of their life for the benefit of the new creation. 
That is to say, the male and female give up a part 
of their vital fluids and this expenditure leaves 
them in a weakened state for a time. 

And this points to the wisdom of moderation. 
Love is weakened by overindulgence as sex love 
is weakened by abuse. 

The death pronounced upon our first parents 
was literally fulfilled. That day Adam and Eve 
died to the animal plane of innocence and ignor- 
ance and rose to the human plane of knowing good 
from evil, a new world to them. We die to the 
plane we leave for there is death in no higher 
sense; indeed, there is death in no other sense. 
We are born into the plane we rise to, for this is 
true birth. We die to the physical plane when 
we leave the physical body and are born into the 
plane next above, for this being a new world to us, 



230 PLAN OF CREATION 

we are born into it the moment we reach it. 
"Natural Law in The Spiritual World/' will give 
the reader a good idea of birth and death in the 
true sense. We are alive only to the things with 
which we commune. We are dead to all of which 
we have no knowledge. We are dead to all of 
which we are not conscious, and alive only to the 
things which we consciously recognize. "He 
that is dead in trespass and sin is dead indeed," 
for here the spiritual faculties are dead, leaving 
one alive on the animal plane alone. The stone 
under your feet is not conscious of the world 
around it. It is dead to all things, while the soul 
that sinneth is dead to the higher things, and 
therefore God declares if we are "dead in tres- 
pass and sin" that we are "dead indeed." Were 
the stone conscious of its surroundings it would 
not be dead. The man who lives wholly in his 
animal faculties is as truly dead to the higher joys 
of life as is the stone to all planes. 

We can not put old heads on young shoulders, 
therefore the wisest parents are those who know 
enough not to discuss sex matters with children. 
Such matters can not be discussed freely before 
young people without arousing in their minds a 
morbid curiosity. You may have gained your ex- 
perience, but they have theirs yet to gain. We 
must begin with the a, b, c, of knowledge and go 
up, not at the top and come down. A little knowl- 
edge is a dangerous thing, and the child will learn 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 231 

only this little. It will make ill use of the little 
knowledge before wisdom sufficient to check it can 
be instilled into its mind. It will be noted that 
Adam and Eve were matured before receiving 
their instruction in sex matters. 

To openly discuss sex in "free love" style as 
is being done today by a few men and women is 
to tear the fig leaf covering from the sex organs 
as truly as though men and women stood before 
each other nude. It was not a mistake to protect 
sex with the covering of modesty in the case of 
our first parents and to tear away this covering 
now would throw the human race back into a state 
of barbarism, where it would sink like a stone 
cast into the sea. The two cherubim set over the 
way of the tree of life (sex organs) are woman's 
natural modesty and man's jealousy of this 
modesty. With club and gun man has been on 
guard over the virtue of woman from the earliest 
period of written history down to the present 
hour. Had it not been thus, there would not now 
be a spark of womanly modesty and virtue in the 
world today. 

Teach the child from the very beginning to hide 
its nakedness and impress this idea until it re- 
quires no further explanation. The child so 
taught will hardly forget the lesson. Gently ad- 
monish the child to protect its nakedness, but do 
not attempt to explain that which it can not under- 
stand. If a child hears sex openly discussed by 



232 PLAN OF CREATION 

its elders, it will discuss the same thing with its 
playmates. 

A few leaders in the camp of "free love" have 
been given terms in the penitentiary and this is 
well, for the fig leaf covering shall not be torn 
from the female form. The sex organs form one 
pole of the brain, hence the sensitive nature of 
these organs. 

The life-thread leads direct from brain to sex 
organs and back through heart and lungs, which 
are one. The polarities of feeling are heart and 
sex organs. Were it possible to sever the life- 
thread between heart and brain and sex organs 
man would be as void of sympathy, love and mod- 
esty as the iceberg is void of heat. The office of 
the mind is to see and reflect, while the office of 
the two centers named is to feel. The mind as 
such has no feeling ; its polarities of feeling being 
sex organs and heart. 

The serpent that deceived the woman is the 
male organ of procreation and sex passion. Man 
is positive, woman negative. The positive seeks 
wisdom in the outer world, the negative finds it 
in the soul. The woman gives birth to the man 
and the man gives birth to new ideas, ideas largely 
gained from a study of the physical world around 
him. Woman bears the pain of physical birth 
while man bears the pain of thought birth. It is 
not the office of woman to be manly. Eead the 
story of David Copperfield and learn the failure 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 233 

of Mr. Murdstone in trying to train his wife to 
be ' ' firm. ' ' He did not succeed in making his wife 
firm but he did succeed in sending her to an early 
grave with a broken heart. There is no book writ- 
ten or that can be written that will better impress 
the mother than the child she holds in her arms. 
It is foolish to imagine that man has any natural 
advantages over her for she is quite as well able 
to receive knowledge from him in digested form 
as from invading his natural field of investiga- 
tion and original research. We can not all be 
Edisons ; nor must we be less than Edisons. By 
meditation woman may learn more real wisdom 
and self composure than man can gain from mere 
physical research. The woman's place is to train 
the child for this is a work man can not do. 
The child must be trained by one having a mind 
like a child. And woman first, last and all the 
time is like a child if she remain in her rightful 
place in nature. If she become masculine, she 
will lose both beauty of face and peace of mind. 
It will be a double loss to her as well as to man. 
We absorb wisdom very much as a sponge 
absorbs water. It is mostly accomplished by re- 
maining passive, by close attention, by listening. 
It is hardly to be gained from books by a forced 
effort. In high schools and colleges it is not to 
be found, except by meditation and thought. 

There is no thought or intention here to seek to 
deprive woman of any of her rights or modify in 



234 PLAN OF CREATION 

any degree her happiness. The wish is to turn 
her from a course that must end in misery. The 
gain and fame that may come to woman by her 
invasion into the natural field of man will prove 
a loss and not a gain to her. She will succeed in 
making her body more masculine, and therefore 
less attractive and the things she discovers will 
be of no more value and joy to her than if taken in 
digested form from some one else. It can not be 
that the inventor or discoverer is greater than 
those who understand the value of his discov- 
ery. The woman who uses the washing machine 
is aS valuable to herself and society as the in- 
ventor of the machine. It all depends upon her 
own manner of looking at it, not upon what the 
world may think of it. 

Male and Female. The male and female princi- 
ples in nature are equal and eternal. Naturally 
we must conclude that the sex principle has its 
basis in physical atoms; otherwise, how are we 
to account for its manifestation in organic 
forms? Nature is framed on the order of posi- 
tive and negative, and there is a positive for every 
negative, hence the number of male and female 
souls will be equal. The male principle is the 
positive and the female is the negative. Neither 
is greater than the other, but both are equal 
though unlike. 

In heaven there will be no "marrying or giv- 
ing in marriage," though there will be the same 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 235 

sex distinction in the after life that there is here 
on the physical plane, for the sex principle is 
eternal. In the brain there is a female cell for 
every male cell, a negative for every positive, and 
in the God-Head form we shall find this same law 
manifested. Organized nature is founded on the 
law of negative and positive, male and female, and 
this principle must be eternally manifested. 

We shall all be perfect notwithstanding we shall 
all be different as we are now different, though 
there will be no new births and no deaths. 

Those who imagine they see man falling from a 
high plane of perfection to a low plane of sin and 
ignorance would do well to turn to the book of 
Genesis and read the account of creation over 
again, not for an explanation of creation, but to 
learn that Adam was ignorant of both good and 
evil before he disobeyed the command which it 
was known he would disobey. Good can only be 
seen through evil as evil can only be seen through 
good. We view one thing through another, for the 
law of opposites is the foundation of all knowledge. 
Nowhere does this law break down, but it forever 
teaches the value of every shade of thought. 
It is impossible to know good without a knowledge 
of evil, for it is impossible to appreciate the value 
of a thing without appreciating the lack of value 
in its opposite. Sin consists not in the act of 
doing a thing, but in a willed determination to go 
wrong and do wrong. Our foreparents had no 



236 PLAN OF CEEATION 

evil intention in the matter under discussion for 
they were ignorant of both good and evil. There 
can be no evil intention where there is no knowl- 
edge of good and evil. Adam and Eve disobeyed 
a command prior to the conception of its value. 
Therefore there was no "fall of man" for ignor- 
ance can not fall. It can only rise, and Adam rose 
from the animal plane of ignorance to the human 
plane of "knowledge of good and evil" and on 
this plane he was accountable for his stewardship. 
But he was not accountable before, for the new 
born infant is not under the moral law. 

To claim that Adam had a knowledge of good 
but was ignorant of evil, would be as senseless as 
to claim that a man can be a good mathematician 
yet have no knowledge of quantity or of magni- 
tude and number. Evil magnifies good as good 
magnifies evil. 

"Behold the man has become as one of us, to 
know good from evil," prior to which time he was 
no more responsible for his acts than were the 
beasts of the field or the child just born. 

As to the Bible account of creation, considered 
from a scientific point of view, we are not here 
concerned. The fact is that mankind had to be 
led to see and feel the sense of modesty and im- 
modesty and a naked race of human beings can 
not rise higher than savages and animals. The 
great mystery is from whence came the idea that 
man fell from a high plane of wisdom to the plane 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 237 

of ignorance, sin and disobedience? Perfect wis- 
dom forbids sin in any and all forms and all the 
sin there ever has been or ever will be results 
from man's upward climb from ignorance to the 
plane of wisdom and full knowledge. Let no man 
dispute this for any other claim leads to confusion 
and can not stand the test of common sense and 
reason. That which can not stand the test of 
reason is of no value to us. The wise teacher 
leads the student in mathematics to work out the 
problems for himself; the Bible strives to lead 
men to seek the truth. 

The purpose of the Bible is not to explain the 
manner of creation or the law governing it, but to 
hint at facts and stimulate inquiry, leaving it to 
man to discover the truth through his own efforts. 
And it is better so. 

If Adam fell from a high plane to a lower one 
why did God subject him to a test unless there is 
something to be gained by it? If after thousands 
of years of suffering for countless millions who 
could have had nothing to do with it mankind gets 
back only to where Adam stood before the so- 
called fall, what has been gained by it? But if the 
human race rises to a higher plane than that occu- 
pied by our first parents, then was God not justi- 
fied in His experiment and will man not gain by 
it? And if a gain, then the fall was not a fall at 
all but a rise. 

No church member will admit that God did not 



238 PLAN OP CREATION 

know beforehand that Adam would disobey the 
command, and most church people will deny that 
there is anything to be gained by the so-called fall 
of man, thus making the God they profess to 
believe in a worse criminal than Adam ever could 
have been. 

And God is either a criminal or the church is 
wrong in its ideas of the so-called fall of Adam — 
and the race through Adam. Take your choice. 



OE SWOKD OF TEUTH 239 



THE PLANETS. 

"He stretched the earth out over empty space 
and hung it upon no thing/ ' The quotation may 
not be exact, though the meaning is not changed. 
The earth moves through an absolute vacuum, and 
is bound to the sun and moon in a direct way. 
Weight is not an attribute of matter, therefore 
the planets are weightless bodies. Weight is the 
registered degree of attraction which the earth 
has for its parts and for the material objects upon 
its surface. All planets float in an absolute 
vacuum, being bound to the controlling planet by 
a direct current. 

Since all matter composing the body of the 
earth including its atmosphere and water is 
drawn towards its own center, it follows as a nat- 
ural sequence that the planet as a whole has no 
weight. Hence the ease with which the sun at- 
tracts and repels the earth, as is observed by 
astronomers to take place at different points in its 
course around the sun. The nature and action of 
gravity is explained in another chapter. 

It would hardly seem necessary to remind as- 
tronomers and other scientists that there is no 
such thing as up and down in space, therefore no 
such quality in matter as weight. But to remove 
the confusion existing in the minds of the un- 
trained, it is well to remind the reader that weight 
is the result of the pulling power of gravity ex- 



240 PLAN OF CREATION 

erted in the direction of the center of the earth. 
The guy ropes made fast to the top of a pole and 
drawn taut give some idea of the action of grav- 
ity. The tighter the ropes are drawn, the more 
firmly will the lower end of the pole be pressed 
against the earth. A pair of scales placed under 
the end of this pole would register the added 
weight caused by the pull on the guy ropes. 

The circulation of the current between the 
planets is not unlike the circulation of the blood 
in the veins. The sun is to the planetary system 
what the heart is to the physical organism. The 
physical body needs but one heart. There is but 
one universe and one universe needs but one sun 
to give it heat and light. An absolute vacuum is 
the best possible conductor of electric force, and 
nature binds the universe together through elec- 
tric bands that cross over wide stretches of empty 
space. For when matter first came together at the 
common center, it was a homogeneous mass, a 
great sea of gases. This sea of gases was used up 
in forming the planets and giving them atmos- 
pheres. There being no such thing as up and 
down in space, it follows naturally that no conduc- 
tor or sustainer is needed to conduct the electric 
force from planet to planet. If the planets moved 
through any kind of substance, they would meet 
resistance at every point of their progress. 

Planetary Space Not Lighted. The universe is 
not ablaze with light, as some appear to teach. If 
the earth were moving through lighted space, 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 241 

there could be no night. If planets floated in a 
great sea of substance, as some teach, we would 
have constant day, or constant night, with no 
change. 

The law governing the action of electricity is 
a universal law. It is the same throughout the 
universe as here on earth. The current that goes 
out from the sun to all planets is turned back to 
the sun through the great planet Jupiter. Heat 
and light are developed in the earth's atmosphere, 
and the conditions of the atmosphere determine 
the quantity and quality of both light and heat. 
When the atmosphere contains smoke, the sun ap- 
pears red. Dust in the upper atmosphere prob- 
ably may cause the appearance of the "canals of 
Mars." 

The theory that great pressure in liquid gases 
produces heat is based on the idea of friction. The 
heat diminishes as the pressure is lessened. But 
steady pressure on the bottom of the ocean, does 
not produce heat, therefore pressure is not the 
cause of heat. Heat is caused by vibration, and 
great pressure stills vibration. Liquid air, which 
is intensely cold, is said to be produced by pres- 
sure. The cold at the bottom of the ocean is main- 
tained under great pressure. These facts both 
prove that pressure does not produce heat, but 
cold. 

The Firmament and What It Is. The sun, moon 
and stars must be polarized in the earth's atmos- 
phere to be visible to us. All planets are polarized 



242 



PLAN OF CEEATION 



in our atmosphere, else we could not have any 
knowledge of their existence. The declaration 
that God placed sun, moon and stars in the firma- 
ment can mean nothing more nor less than that the 




The diagram on this page illustrates in a crude way the reflec- 
tion of the planets or their polarization in the "firmament" or atmos- 
phere of the earth. The planets furthest from the earth are reflected 
in the outer strata of our atmosphere, while the planets closer in or 
nearest the earth, are reflected to us from the strata nearer the sur- 
face of the planet. 

planets of the universe are polarized in the earth's 
atmosphere, for the atmosphere of the earth is 
firmly connected with the planet, is a part of the 
planet, and moves through space with the planet. 
Just as all nature is polarized in the brain and 
nerve cells of man, and after in the soul, so are 
the planets of the universe polarized in the atmos- 
phere of the earth. It would he impossible for the 
human eye to catch sufficient rays of light from 
the sun, to say nothing of the planets, to form an 
image, except for the fact that the earth is bound 
to the sun by a direct current. 
Light is an effect. It is produced by friction in 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 243 

the atmosphere of the earth, and less light is re- 
ceived from the sun by our earth than by some of 
the other planets. A man with keenly developed 
sense of hearing, will receive a spoken message in 
a fuller sense, than will a man with dull ears. In 
time to come, the earth will receive from the sun 
more light than it now receives. 

The conditions for developing light will be in- 
creased by the removal of gases. At present, 
owing to the foul condition of our atmosphere, we 
see spots on the reflected image of the sun, that 
are not found in the sun itself. As the mind of 
man can not receive the wisdom of God in an un- 
adulterated form, neither can the earth receive 
the light of the sun in its full radiance. Gases 
accumulating in strata of air where the image ol 
the sun appears in our atmosphere, account foi 
bands of light seen during eclipses of sun and at 
other times. More than one sun in a universe 
would render a universe an impossibility. The 
millions of supposed suns are but the bright light 
of small planets, known as fixed stars. 

The Water Planet. The earth is what we may 
call the water planet. The greater part of flesh 
and blood is water. Bible students may find in 
these facts an explanation of the declaration: "Ye 
must be born of water and of the spirit' ' for oxy- 
gen is the basic water element, while hydrogen is 
the fire or spirit element. Physical life, such as 
we know here on earth, must offer some advan- 
tage in the plan of creation; otherwise we can 



244 PLAN OF CREATION 

hardly imagine the earth to have been created and 
man placed upon it. One thing we are quite sure 
of, and that is that experience is necessary for 
mental unf oldment. 

When we read that God cursed the earth for 
man's sake, we should understand that this is the 
same as placing a child to work at something use- 
ful, in order to train it properly, and not to let it 
grow up in idleness. An undeveloped being like 
man must have some incentive to effort in the 
right direction in order to avoid degenerate 
habits. 

Earthquakes and Their Cause. Even granted 
that the crust of the earth was in a molten state 
during the process of formation, it is quite reason- 
able to suppose that gas chambers would form in 
this crust; numerous caves and underground pas- 
sages seem to offer proof of this theory. Contrac- 
tion of the crust of the earth prevents the accumu- 
lating gases from escaping, the heat generated by 
friction results in the explosion and upheaval 
which we call an earthquake. The volcanic erup- 
tion is the same condition resulting differently. 
The volcanic crater permits the gases to escape, 
preventing an upheaval more violent. 

But back of the immediate cause there must be 
a primary or deeper cause for earthquakes. We 
are told in the Scriptures that God is the author of 
both good and evil; even the doubter will heartily 
agree with this declaration, if we insert the word 
1 ' nature" in place of the word God. But the two 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 245 

words mean the same thing, for in the Old Testa- 
ment it is affirmed that God is nature, and all will 
agree that nature is the cause of all things. There 
is nothing above nature and nothing outside of it. 

The Bible leads us to believe that man's evil 
tendencies have something to do with earthquakes 
and other destructive forces. The God-Head form 
is the very heart of the universe and man is a 
function and a part of this God-Head of conscious 
expression; and being this, man by his thoughts 
is going to produce either a soothing effect or its 
opposite, for do we not read on page after page in 
the Scriptures threats against wickedness? But 
these warnings must not be regarded in the light 
of arbitrary threats; they are simply a warning 
against violations of natural law. And for the 
benefit of the professing class attention is called 
to Scripture that bears directly upon a particular 
disaster in this our own day and age. 

The Scripture referred to reads as follows: 
"Two shall be sleeping in a bed, one shall be 
taken and the other left." This refers to the 
earthquake of 1906 at which time the city of San 
Francisco was destroyed. We could not be ex- 
pected to understand that Scripture prior to its 
fulfillment, nor was it intended that we should. 
The term "two sleeping in a bed" refers to the 
inhabitants of two cities standing near each other. 
The city of San Francisco was in a very large 
measure destroyed, while the city of Oakland just 
across the bay was practically undisturbed; and 



246 PLAN OF CEEATION 

it was to take place in the early morning before 
the people were out of their beds. 

But we are not to infer from this that it was 
willed to happen at that time or that it was willed 
to take place at all; on the contrary, it was fore- 
knowledge of what would take place as the result 
of man's wickedness. "But if it was foreknown it 
must have been willed," say some. But this does 
not necessarily follow, for all acting causes pro- 
duce definite effects at specified or measurable 
times. The God-Head reads upon the inner dome 
of the sun the course all things will take, and He 
sometimes sounds a warning note through an in- 
spired writer. And while the God-Head could 
foresee the building of a city where the city of 
San Francisco now stands, it does not follow from 
this that He willed that it should be destroyed. 
But at the same time He could foresee its destruc- 
tion resulting from a violation of the moral law, 
and we will now look to the primary cause. 

Further on the effort will be made to show that 
man is an electric battery, and as surely as though 
he were made of iron. But here we are talking of 
earthquakes and their causes, and so must keep as 
close to the subject as possible. Wherever man 
moves or wherever he stands, the life-thread that 
joins him to the God-Head form passes out 
through the crust of the earth directly at that 
point; and when a large portion of the inhabitants 
of a big city are thinking evil and doing evil, they 
are hindering or holding back the free outflow of 



OE SWOED OF TEUTH 247 

the current that heats and lights the earth and 
that makes us conscious beings. And this retard- 
ing of the outflowing current causes the crust of 
the earth to contract at that particular point, and 
if the retardation continues long enough and is 
extensive enough, an earthquake follows as a nat- 
ural result; for an earthquake or volcanic erup- 
tion is much the same thing as an erupting boil on 
the human body, which latter is caused by con- 
traction of the skin through impaired circulation. 
(See Cause and Cure of Disease, by H. B. Phil- 
brook, for fuller explanation). 

The exercise of the animal or lower faculties re- 
tard freedom of expression between the God-Head 
and human centers. The earthquake is the boom- 
erang that returns to hit the thrower's head, for 
God repels evil thoughts, while He receives freely 
good ones. The higher faculties offer no hin- 
drance to the free expression through their 
exercise. 

St. John's Prophetic Ditch. In the spring of 
1894 one of our representatives in Congress fig- 
ured from the records at hand that there was that 
year in this country alone distilled spirits suffi- 
cient to fill a tank of given dimensions, which, 
when figured out, equalled the amount that would 
be required to fill a ditch five feet in width, by 
four feet in depth, extending to a distance of two 
hundred miles. 

Blood was not meant, for all the blood of all the 
animal life that has ever been upon this earth and 



248 PLAN OF CREATION 

all the distilled spirits of all times, would not 
make a lake two hundred miles wide and four feet 
deep, which would be about the depth called for. 
This simply points to a mile post on our march 
forward; distilled spirits and their consumption 
represent evil in concrete form, and God manifests 
His displeasure with evil when it rises so high. If 
there be no diminution of the above amount, there 
will be no cessation of God's manifest displeasure; 
while if the amount is increased, so will God mani- 
fest His displeasure with more severity. 

The strong drink traffic is as closely related to 
capitalism as two water tanks that are joined to- 
gether through a pipe. As fortune piles up on the 
one hand and poverty and misery on the other, 
both will meet at the whiskey bar, one to exalt 
its pride, the other to drown its sorrow and for- 
get its misery. From this it must not be under- 
stood that drinking in itself is so great an evil. 
But the strong drink traffic results from man's love 
of money and is made and sold for profit. To pro- 
hibit its sale and manufacture without removing 
the cause, is to fight effect only, without touching 
the cause. Remove poverty from the earth and 
kill the power of money by abolishing profit or in- 
crease in any manner, and this evil will soon dis- 
appear from the earth. To fight the effect and 
leave the cause undisturbed, is to insult the God 
of justice. 

The Moon Not a Law Breaker. The current 
coming to the earth from the sun passes out 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 249 

through the crust of the earth and bends to west- 
ward and flows out through the earth's atmos- 
phere at a point directly under the moon, entering 
the latter from the side turned toward the sun. 
The deep cold waters of the earth and the snow 
capped mountains are in large measure noncon- 
ductors of the outflowing current. In a weakened 
condition the current passing out through these 
points, reflects back to us the high mountain 
ranges and the deep waters of the oceans. Elec- 
tricity conveys an impression from one object to 
another. It has been related many times that 
lightning striking a person, left an image of tree 
or fern, imprinted on the flesh. The density of 
the moon is less than that of the waters of the 
earth. It is, therefore, a great reflector presenting 
back to earth, its own image. In all that has been 
written of the moon, no one has ever yet told us 
why it does not turn upon its axis the same as the 
other planets. At least, the writer of this book 
has no knowledge of any satisfactory explanation. 
The moon is said to have no atmosphere, or at 
most a very rare one. But when we understand 
that light and heat can not be transmitted through 
space, but must be developed on each planet by 
friction, we shall see that a planet without an at- 
mosphere would remain a dark and lifeless body. 
No light could be developed on the moon if it 
had no atmosphere. The moon can only reflect 
what it receives. A deaf man can not receive a 
spoken message and reflect it back to us, and like- 



250 PLAN OF CEEATION 

wise the moon reflects only what it receives. Light 
and heat are reproduced within the atmosphere of 
the planet. 

Moreover, we have the evidence that the side of 
the moon turned from the sun has a large measure 
of light, revealing the fact that it is illuminated 
throughout, both interior and exterior. Far out 
at sea where the atmosphere is free from smoke 
the new moon presents a full lighted face to us, 
showing that it is not a dense body like the earth, 
but permits light to reflect to its surface from its 
interior. For all the planets with the exception 
of the earth, and perhaps Mercury, are ablaze 
with light on their inner surfaces, for planets are 
hollow globes, not solid bodies. 



OE SWORD OF TRUTH 



251 



CONVERGENT ENERGY, VERSUS DIVER- 
GENT WASTE. 

The diagram here shown, illustrates the manner 
in which the sun is supposed to throw off energy, 
and which a noted astronomer but recently de- 












*>»*** 



»* 



S? 







\\ 



'*Mfc 



\ \ v 



^V: 



elares to be the case. The idea involves a sense- 
less waste, and not a lawful method, as will be 
seen by a glance at the diagram here shown. 

This same astronomer assures us that the cen- 
trifugal pull of the earth on the sun, is great 
enough to break a cable of cast iron as big in di- 
ameter as the earth itself. Can the reader see the 
evidence of such a cable in the first diagram? 

By a study of the second diagram, and which is 
here shown, the reader will see Nature's method 



,252 PLAN OF CREATION 

of holding planets in their orbits. In this diagram 
we see a principle illustrated that represents law 
and order. By the senseless act of waste we can 
see neither method nor law. 




To declare in one breath that energy in the form 
of broken particles is thrown out in all directions 
from the sun and wasted in space, and in the next 
breath declare that the pull of the earth on the 
sun is great enough to break a cable of iron as big 
in diameter as the earth itself, is to flatly contra- 
dict one statement with the other. Eevolving 
planets whirling round a central sun, call as loudly 
for direct connection or union as does the stone 
the boy swings around his head at the end of a 
string. By no other imaginary method is it pos- 
sible for Nature to hold planets in orbits. 

Why the Sky Looks Blue. The sky looks blue 
because of the dark background beyond. Space 



OE SWORD OF TRUTH 253 

beyond the atmosphere of the earth is dark and 
lifeless with no ray of light or heat. The deep 
waters of the ocean appear blue for the same 
reason that the sky looks blue. Light can only 
penetrate water a few hundred feet; the inky 
waters below the light line reflect to us the appear- 
ance of blue. 

Cause of Tides. The moon has no more power 
to attract the waters of the earth to the exclusion 
of the rest of the planet than it has to draw the 
hats off our heads. The moon acts upon the planet 
as a whole, not alone upon its waters. 

Tides are due to a swelling of the earth's crust 
at the equator, caused by a rush of waters to the 
interior of the earth. Except for this drawing in 
of the waters and purifying them they would be- 
come so salt that no animal life could survive in 
these waters. The process of retorting raises the 
heat on the interior of the earth and this causes 
it to bulge out at the equator. This swelling of 
the earth at the equator throws the waters toward 
the poles, thus causing the tides. The secondary 
tide is a reaction from the first or main tide. As 
the heat subsides in the interior of the earth the 
equator narrows down, thus allowing the waters 
to rush back, and when they pile up at the equa- 
tor they again rush toward the poles, but in dimin- 
ished degree. The earth draws her waters in once 
in each twenty-four hours, and it is done through 
the law of negative action. We take food into our 
stomachs when this organ is negative to the rest 



254 PLAN OF CEEATION 

of the body. As the earth bulges at the equator 
it draws in at the poles in corresponding degree. 

The waters of the earth circulate as blood cir- 
culates through our bodies. At the time the earth 
swallows her waters she at the same time draws 
in gases from the atmosphere, and this takes place 
at that point of the earth turned directly toward 
the moon. The electric cable that binds the moon 
to the earth has something to do with this action, 
but in just what way the writer is not able to 
state. 

The Moon Helps the Earth. At the instant the 
eartfi swallows her waters and gases the moon 
dips toward the earth. This action of the moon is 
caused by the atmosphere of the earth drawing 
downward or contracting at that point directly 
under the moon between the two planets. And 
this contraction of the earth's atmosphere is due 
to the fact that the gases that are drawn in with 
the waters is drawn in from this point. The con- 
traction of the earth's atmosphere results in a like 
contraction in the current that binds the two 
planets together. Hence the cause of the moon 
dipping. The moon flies back to its normal posi- 
tion immediately after and which is but a few sec- 
onds. 

Mountain ranges are watersheds to turn the 
water to the valleys below; it is not likely that 
rains descending on mountain ranges percolate to 
any considerable depth, and therefore we must 
look for the cause of water pressure in some other 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 255 

direction. And we find it in the fact that the 
earth is an organism and that it circulates its 
waters in accord with the same law that governs 
the circulation of blood in the veins of animals. It 
is not necessary, however, that the earth be sup- 
plied with heart and lungs, for trees circulate 
their saps and they have no such organs. 

Electricity is the agent that causes the blood to 
flow through our veins, and it is the agent that 
forces the saps up through the channels of circula- 
tion in the vegetable. Each inflation of the lungs 
furnishes sufficient current to expand the heart 
about four times; in this expanded state the heart 
receives the blood from the contracting veins; the 
current leaves the heart and passes out through 
the arteries to the extremities of the body where it 
passes out through the pores into the open air. 
The contracting heart forces the blood out, the ex- 
panded arteries receive it and convey it to all 
parts of the body. If the pores of the skin could 
be all sealed up tight, the blood would imme- 
diately stop circulating and death would soon 
take place. It is the outflowing current that 
draws the blood out through the channels of cir- 
culation and carries it to the extremities of the 
body. And it is the outflowing current of the 
earth that conveys the saps of vegetables up 
through the channels of circulation and makes 
vegetable growth possible. (The credit for this 
discovery is due entirely to Mr. H. B. Philbrook, 
author of "Electricity in Nature," "What and 



256 PLAN OF CREATION 

Where is God," "Cause and Cure of Disease," 
and a number of other books. If still living, Mr. 
Philbrook will welcome the appearance of this 
little book.) 

"The Bottomless Pit." This is an open space 
in the interior of the earth; it is the earth's great 
stomach where the waters and the atmosphere are 
purified by the process of retorting. There is no 
center of attraction in this great open space; the 
power of gravity does not extend to this great 
open space in the interior of the earth, and hence 
when the earth draws in her waters through the 
north polar opening in the crust, they decombine 
on reaching this point, for water will not com- 
bine except under the power of gravity or remain 
combined when either above or below the gravity 
line. The casting of Satan into the bottomless pit 
and binding him for a thousand years simply 
means that a disturbing element will be removed 
from the atmosphere of the earth by being drawn 
into this great retort, where it will be eliminated; 
that for a thousand years the stomach of the earth 
will be able to keep the atmosphere and waters in 
a normal state, thus removing and subduing an 
element that is a great annoyance to man, and is 
the direct cause of much of the evil we see in the 
world today. At the end of the thousand years 
another disturbing element in the form of a pois- 
onous gas belt settles to the surface of the earth, 
and will cause many to allow the animal side of 
their natures to rule them. But that belt is not as 



OR SWOED OF TEUTH 257 

large as the one that is now nearing the surface of 
the earth, and will for this reason soon be over- 
come and the world again restored to normal. The 
dead gases are discharged at the south polar open- 
ing, but in just what manner this is done we need 
not try to fathom at this time. This open space in 
the interior of the earth is about five thousand 
miles in diameter. It is surrounded by an electric 
wall about one thousand miles thick; and between 
this electric wall and the crust of the earth there 
is a gas chamber that is about four hundred and 
fifty miles across, and here a constant pressure 
against the crust is maintained. The live water 
and air elements pass through the electric wall 
into this gas chamber, and at a midway point in 
the crust of the earth the steam condenses into 
water and flows to the surface as such. The larger 
channels permit some of the water to reach the 
surface in heated form. 

To imagine that a personal devil is the cause of 
man's wickedness, is to credit some other being 
than God, with the invention of his animal or lower 
faculties, and which faculties are as essential to 
man as are his higher or moral faculties. The 
purpose of life here is to subdue the lower through 
the exercise of the higher. If man had nothing to 
overcome, he would have nothing to gain. The 
goal is worth the price we pay to reach it. 

Rainbow and Flood. Before the flood the sun 
had never shone with direct rays upon the earth. 
The face of the sun was hidden from view by a 



258 PLAN OF CREATION 

vapor cloud that overhung the whole earth. After 
this vapor belt settled down to the condensing 
point and fell in form of rain, the sun shining on 
the falling mist formed a rainbow, the first ever 
seen by man, and it was a sure promise that the 
earth would not again be destroyed by water. 
This water belt was formed at the time the earth 
was formed; intense heat forced this water belt to 
a great height in the atmosphere of the earth. If 
any reader wishes to make a study of the condi- 
tion of the earth prior to the flood or second fall 
of water, he is referred to the writings of Prof. 
Isa^c N. Vail, of Pasadena, California. His " An- 
nular World Evolution,' ' gives ample proof that 
there was a flood. The purpose here is to point 
out that the earth was at one period in its forma- 
tion covered with water and as these waters be- 
came deeper and offered resistance to the outflow- 
ing current, the "land rose up out of the waters 
and the waters were divided" by mountain 
ranges and valleys. Compared with the present 
state of the earth, the mountain ranges were mere 
hills, which were elevated to their present height 
after the deluge. As they rose to greater height 
the "waters receded or subsided," for the crust 
was forced up forming the mountain ranges, while 
it bended down in corresponding degree, forming 
the beds of the oceans. The vapor cloud that 
overhung the earth made it impossible for the sun 
to shine with direct power upon the earth and 
therefore a rainbow was not possible prior to the 



OE SWORD OF TEUTH 259 

deluge. When it did appear it was nature's sign 
to man that the earth would not again be de- 
stroyed by water, for the only water belt remain- 
ing above the firmament (above the condensing 
line) had descended and joined the waters below 
this line. 

Hailstones and Meteors. We may be assured 
that meteors do not fall to the earth from other 
planets, neither do they come from space beyond 
the atmosphere of the earth. And being quite sure 
of this, we must look closer home for the cause of 
meteors. No solid can form out in space beyond 
the atmosphere of a planet for there is no sub- 
stance there, from which it could be formed, and 
neither can a solid form except under pressure or 
the direct power of gravity. Besides, the gravity 
of a planet would not allow any part of it to pass 
beyond its atmosphere into space. It has been 
suggested that possibly meteors may have been 
formed from volcanic dust in the upper regions 
of our atmosphere. Portland cement forms into 
stone, when wet. Why not stone, from volcanic 
dust, in like manner? 

There appears to be a neutral point within the 
atmosphere of the earth, above which point the 
law of affinity takes the place of gravity, a point 
at which objects lose their weight, yet are held by 
the power of affinity within the atmosphere of the 
earth. Is it not possible that in the earlier ages of 
the earth stones were shot from volcanic craters 
above this neutral line, and that an electric storm 



260 PLAN OF CREATION 

in the upper regions of the atmosphere may be the 
means of causing these stones to come within the 
power of gravity, which draws them back to the 
surface of the earth? This is merely a suggestion. 
We are told the heaviest fall of hailstones is in the 
equatorial regions, where ice has been known to 
fall in masses as large as " sheep, or even ele- 
phants. " This would indicate that something 
more than a current of cold air is required to ex- 
plain hail. A union of certain chemicals will 
freeze water into ice, and some of these chemicals 
are so quick in action that water will congeal even 
on a hot stove. Such chemicals accumulating in 
a moisture belt might result in the formation of 
hailstones, and the extent of this belt and nature 
of the chemicals would determine in such a case, 
the extent of the storm. If the moisture be exces- 
sive at one place, and the chemicals be of the kind 
that act very quickly, large masses of ice would 
naturally result. Ice is said to be a nonconductor 
of electricity, and if this be a fact, would not the 
forming ice offer resistance to the outflowing cur- 
rent from the earth and thus account for the phe- 
nomena of rain and thunder accompanying such 
storms? Who can say but the peal of thunder 
may have been an explosion in the upper regions 
of the air, and a danger averted by turning ice 
back into the liquid state? Who has not noticed 
the heavy downpour of rain after the sharp peal 
of thunder? The hailstone must begin to fall to- 
ward the earth the instant it begins to form, there- 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 261 

fore quick action is necessary, and it puts one's 
faith to a strain to believe that a mere current of 
cold air could produce some of the larger hail- 
stones. 

The Thermos Bottle and What It Teaches. The 
thermos bottle furnishes another proof that heat 
and light do not pass from sun to earth as from 
a lighted lamp. Even granting that a sea of ether 
fills all planetary space, the same ether would fill 
the vacuum chamber of the thermos bottle, and if 
we are to believe the evidence of our senses, how 
can we persuade ourselves that heat and light 
waves cross over millions of miles of space and 
reach the earth as such, when it is known that heat 
will not cross the narrow vacuum chamber of the 
thermos bottle? This medium which is supposed 
to be necessary to conduct the light and heat of the 
sun to the earth and other planets, would if it actu- 
ally did exist, render such light and heat impossi- 
ble. The power of the sun must be focalized in or- 
der to be effective. The existence of a conducting 
medium such as is supposed to exist would dissi- 
pate this power and render it ineffective. The ex- 
istence of such a medium in space would make it 
absolutely impossible for light and heat to mani- 
fest at all. The earth receives its light and heat 
through the action of convergent energy, and not 
by divergent energy, which dissipates and de- 
stroys power. How could divergent rays of en- 
ergy hold a planet in its orbit and guide it so per- 
fectly in its course around a central sun? 



262 PLAN OF CREATION 

The universe is an organism and the planets are 
bound together in a direct way through a circulat- 
ing medium. This current passes from one planet 
to another as veins, arteries and nerves connect 
the different organs of the body. As pain in any 
part of the body is felt through crooked nerves, 
and located in its proper place, so do the planets 
appear to us in their respective places, for all our 
senses are senses of feeling. Let the feeling be in 
the form of pain or in the form of sound through 
the ear or through the eye as sight, it is through 
mental images the external is located and ana- 
lyzed. Seeing is visual feeling. We feel the plan- 
ets to be where they are, as we feel pains in the 
body to be at the point of discord. The organism 
of man is an epitome of the universe. Or in still 
plainer terms, man is a miniature universe or the 
universe in miniature, and the mind locates and 
analyzes the external and larger universe through 
the miniature universe. Like a mirror the mind of 
man reflects the universe and its changing fea- 
tures. Man sees (feels) the planets to be in their 
positions, as he locates pain at the extremity of a 
nerve. Both senses of feeling are governed by 
law — the same law. As shown in the chapter on 
the mind and its faculties, all seeing and all feel- 
ing is confined to the individual organisms ; we do 
not see material objects; we see mental images 
only, and these reveal the physical universe to us 
by vibrating in unison with it. 

Comets. Comets, like planets, must be polar- 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 263 

ized in the earth's atmosphere to he seen hy the 
inhabitants of this earth. Set a lighted lamp in a 
window on a dark and foggy night, and the streak 
of light that penetrates the fog will illustrate how 
the "tail" of a comet switches around so quickly 
when it comes near the photosphere or polarized 
image of the sun in our atmosphere. The comet is 
composed of gases. It is not a solid, and these 
gases accumulate in space between the planets. If 
they continued to accumulate they would in time 
interfere with the planets in their motion around 
the sun. But these gases are gathered up and car- 
ried beyond the universe of matter and discharged 
back into "outer darkness," extending through 
endless space from whence they came. The comet 
itself has a concrete existence, but its "tail" is an 
effect, produced by the sun shining through it 
and reflecting this light in the gases of our atmos- 
phere. No such effect could be produced beyond 
the atmosphere of the earth, for there is nothing 
in space to reflect the light and form a "tail." 

It may be well at this point to explain what is 
meant by the term polarization. It is a magnetic 
center, that vibrates in unison with another and 
a greater center. It is, in one sense, like the reflec- 
ted image in a mirror; the features are polarized 
in the mirror and reflected back to the mind, save 
for which you could not see yourself at all as you 
appear to others. 

The earth is not old. Nature works not as a 
man, upon one thing at a time, but upon all, and 



264 PLAN OF CEEATION 

in and through all. It is a greater superstition to 
believe the earth to be millions of years old than 
to place its age at only a few thousand years. The 
earth was evidently made for man, and its pe- 
riods, its age and duration are not above the finite 
comprehension of man. Knowing that nature 
works upon the whole at one and the same time, 
days of a thousand years each were quite long 
enough for its creation. We may believe with 
reason that "a thousand years with God are as 
but a day with man" for nature's conscious head 
could not be impatient in His work, neither could 
He-require millions of years to develop so small a 
mass of matter as this earth. A being who could 
"hold the earth in the hollow of His hand" would 
hardly spend a million years nailing down one 
shingle. 

The Bible has been proven correct in so many of 
its claims, while man has been wrong in so many 
of his, it appears to be unwise to accept from man 
anything clearly contradicted by the Bible. 

Before me lies a paper containing the ideas of a 
leading astronomical writer of today. This writer 
declares that the greater part of the sun's energy 
is wasted in space. He says: "Two thousand 
millionths of the sun's radiant energy is inter- 
cepted by the earth and only about one two hun- 
dred and twenty-five millionth by all the planets 
together. 

Think of it. The sun is supposed to expend in a 
useless way 224,000,000 times more energy than is 



OB SWORD OF TRUTH 265 

required to give heat and light to all the planets. 
The expressed thought kills the value of the claim 
if it can be said to have any value. Here we see 
scientists introducing a very large element of 
chance into an operation admitted to "be governed 
by mathematical law. The idea is belittling to 
any mind, scientific or otherwise. 

If light be a detached substance thrown off from 
the planets it must be moving through space in 
every conceivable direction; it must fill space as 
completely as the ocean beach is filled with sand. 
And if light results from bombardment, why is 
space not ablaze with light 1 And if space is filled 
with such broken particles of matter, moving in 
every conceivable direction, how do they pass 
each other in space? 

Since we know that light and heat do not flow 
out over the wires from the dynamo to the street 
lamp, we have no grounds for the belief that light 
and heat as such cross from planet to planet, over 
millions of miles of space. A sheet of thin paper 
offers resistance to air. Water can only be forced 
through the pores of glass when under very high 
pressure, while an air current moving at the rate 
of a hundred miles an hour, a very high rate, 
would not be sufficient to force a single particle 
of this through the thinnest layer of glass. 

Yet, scientists hold that the sun, the electric 
light, even the tallow candle force broken par- 
ticles of matter through panes of glass. To accept 
this theory of light we must persuade ourselves 



266 PLAN OF CREATION 

that the minute openings through the pane of glass 
are perfectly parallel to each other an<£ at right 
angles to the pane of glass itself. Such a concep- 
tion is too absurd to require denial. 

There are three distinct kinds of sabstance, phys- 
ical matter, astral substance and spirit, which 
may be called by its modern name, electricity. 
Astral substance does not exist in the form of 
atoms and is much finer than physical matter. 
Electricity is fineness in the absolute sense, and 
would pass freely through any kind of substance 
in a free state. It would meet with no resistance 
whatever, except that it is clothed in astral sub- 
stance, always, and some kinds of matter offer re- 
sistance to the free passage of this substance. The 
thin clear pane of glass, and the thin clear layer of 
ice offer little resistance to the passage of astral 
substance, hence transmit light freely. Scientists 
tell us that a piece of clear ice cut in proper shape 
may be used as a sun glass, with the temperature 
several degrees below zero; that combustible ma- 
terial may be set on fire by means of this ice sun 
glass and this without melting the ice. This 
proves that arrested light waves develop heat. 
That the ice does not melt proves that heat as such 
does not pass through the ice but is developed be- 
yond it. Thus we are led to see that heat and 
light are not developed by the bombarding of 
atoms in interstellar space as has been suggested 
by some astronomers. 

In addition to the foregoing, it is common 



OE SWOED OF TEUTH 267 

knowledge that a room may be heated up on a 
cold day by the free passage of sunlight through 
a window, while the panes of glass remain cold. 
To term atoms of matter electrons does not lessen 
the difficulty. They are still atoms, though in- 
finitesimally small, and are therefore measurable 
in three directions, length, breadth and thickness. 
If scientists have not yet been able to conceive of 
a substance that does not exist in broken form, it 
is about time they did so. 

The power of gravity as is elsewhere pointed 
out, shows the necessity of an unbroken substance. 
The facts here pointed out confirm the conclusions 
that were reached in that chapter. Sir Isaac New- 
ton was able to conceive of such a substance, and 
also the endlessness of space, while today some 
who pose as scientists seem unable to conceive of 
either. It will yet be seen by all, that a substance 
finer than the finest broken particles of matter 
exists. A substance that is fineness in the absolute 
sense. The law of opposites tells us that spirit is 
the very opposite of matter and that it has none 
of its qualities. 

PLANETOIDS AND FIXED STABS. 

The earth with its animal life is an extension of 
the plan of creation. The earth was formed 
thousands of years after the birth of the universe. 
All the planets of the solar system, so-called, were 
formed at the time the earth was formed. All 
planets represent incubators or eggs; and in the 



268 



PLAN OF CEEATION 



very beginning of creation all contained life with- 
in the shell, but no life of any kind on the out- 
side. It was not until after the earth and the 
other revolving planets of the solar system were 
formed that we find organic life on the outside 
surface of a planet, and this perhaps is confined to 
the earth alone. The planet Mercury may be in- 
habited by beings on its outer surface, though the 
writer has no information regarding this particu- 
lar planet. But our moon and all the other plan- 
ets of the so-called solar system, including the 
planetoids, are inhabited on the inside, for plan- 
ets* are shells or hollow globes in all cases. When 
the Bible speaks of "on earth" it means exactly 
what it says, for we do not dwell on the inside of 
the earth, as one scientist claims. And when it 
speaks of "in heaven" it means exactly what it 
says, for all the planets except the earth and per- 
haps Mercury, have more light within than with- 
out. 

At the very dawn of creation the human ego and 
its organism was formed on the inside of what is 
known as a planetoid; there were as many of these 
as there are fixed stars, these being the connecting 
links between the God-Head and the Archangels 
or Demigods. The Archangel or Demigod inhab- 
its the inside of a fixed star, there being but one 
such in each star. In size and function the Arch- 
angel comes next to the God-Head, for here, too, 
we find the universe and its laws and operations 
reflected from the inner dome of the fixed star. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 269 

There must be an external world as well as an in- 
ternal or mental world, for it is the external that 
stimulates and makes active the internal. With 
the five physical senses closed to outside stimulus, 
the mind of man would be as dull as the worms of 
the dust. 

When man or the soul of man inhabited a plane- 
toid he also saw the universe and its laws and 
operations reflected from the inner dome of his 
planetoid shell. This compelled mental action to 
some degree. But mental unfoldment was very 
slow; hence the reason for the conscious extension 
of the plan of nature. Nature, acting without con- 
scious direction, would never have created an 
earth and placed animal life on its surface. This 
had to be done through the wisdom and power of 
the conscious God-Head, and the facts prove the 
claim. Here in the busy hives of industry the 
mind of man unfolds at a much faster rate than 
would have been possible in the isolated state. 
" Other sheep have I, that are not of this fold; them 
also must I bring, that they may hear the shep- 
herd's voice.' ' The shepherd's voice in this case 
is the familiar scenes of earth life, with its work- 
shops, its farms and the familiar faces and voices 
of human beings. All of us can testify to the fact 
that useful employment and intermingling with 
other human beings are great mental stimulators. 
Untold advantages for rapid mental unfoldment 
are offered here on the surface of the earth for the 
soul of man in the flesh body. If it were not so, 



270 PLAN OF CREATION 

then rest assured of the fact that there would be 
no earth and no animal life such as we know here 
on the outer surface of the planet. 

There yet remain a few planetoids back in 
space beyond the planet Mars; the human occu- 
pants of these will also be brought to earth and 
born in flesh bodies, that they may unfold at a 
faster rate. 

There is not a scientist living worthy of the 
title, who does not see in much of his work of in- 
vestigation, the absolute necessity of mind inter- 
vention, and the guidance of wisdom in part of the 
wofk of creating the earth and making it possible 
for human beings to live upon its surface. If there 
are any scientists who do not see this necessity, 
then there is evidently something wrong with 
their ability to reason. Prof Huxley saw this ne- 
cessity, and Darwin is said to have confessed that 
he saw the necessity of mind intervention at a 
certain point of his investigations, and others 
have professed to believe in the wisdom and guid- 
ance of the directing hand of God creating the 
earth and placing man on its surface. 

All the planets of the solar system were formed 
out of the material composing the planetoids, 
which, prior to the extension of the plan of nature, 
occupied the space between the sun and the planet 
Neptune. A few planetoids were left to bear wit- 
ness to God's wisdom and power. It was the 
breaking up of these planetoid worlds and binding 
them into the body of the earth, that gives the rea- 



OE SWORD OF TRUTH 271 

son for that Scripture that speaks of war in heaven 
and of casting Satan and his angels down to 
earth. For be it borne in mind that the inhabitants 
in those planetoids really did war against the 
effort to destroy their homes and bring them here 
and chain them in bodies of flesh; but since they 
were not unfolding, or if unfolding, it was at such 
a slow rate that God saw that it would shorten 
the period of creation fifty thousand years or more 
by creating the earth and the other planets, for 
here they can help each other to advance. 

What is the purpose of the planetoids if not in- 
habited, to look at ? Well, if that is all, they serve 
no purpose unless it be to puzzle astronomers, for 
they are invisible except through telescopes of 
high power. "Ye are fearfully and wonderfully 
made." Do you, professing Christians, believe 
this? If the earth end of the mental circuit be 
"grounded' 'we would naturally expect to see the 
light at the other end of it grow dim. This would 
be the case if it were a metal battery, as all elec- 
tricians know. If the human soul suffers dissolu- 
tion it is natural to suppose the current affected 
from earth to fixed star and on to sun center or 
the whole length of the circuit. When the human 
ego drops back into the earth it surely could be 
said to be "grounded," while astronomers have 
observed many times fixed stars grow dim, and 
others to flare up and blaze with great brilliancy 
for a time. Do we not see men wake up from 
drunken stupors and become mentally active for a 



272 PLAN OF CEEATION 

time or until they take the notion to go on another 
drunken spree? And in other ways men become 
dull and stupid, sometimes from long spells of 
sickness, at which times the mind becomes inac- 
tive to a large degree. 

Experiments conducted by scientists show con- 
clusively that the brain of man and the stomach 
are electric batteries. An electrode dropped down 
a man's throat into his stomach produced sufficient 
current to enable a message to be transmitted over 
a wire to a considerable distance. Is this not suffi- 
cient proof that man is an electric machine or or- 
ganism? And a leading scientist who helped to 
conduct this experiment declares that ' ' electricity 
is life." Is man not dependent upon this life? Is 
it not the life in us ? Or do we think there is some 
other brand of life? God is life, and electricity is 
the spirit of God, and we are bound in a direct 
way to the God-Head, hence we are the children of 
one Father. Man's wisdom compared with the 
wisdom of the God-Head is as something filthy 
compared with something beautiful and wonder- 
ful ; and yet, even the little wisdom man possesses 
would be a marvel that could not be explained ex- 
cept for the fact that he is joined to the God-Head 
in a direct way. 

The rotation of the earth on its axis results 
from positive and negative action of the sun; the 
day side is repelled or driven from the sun, while 
the night or negative side is drawn toward it. But 
the planet in its orbit is carred forward by the law 



OE SWORD OF TRUTH 273 

of momentum. There is no other force to carry it 
forward; and we know that the stone the boy 
swings around his head at the end of a string, will 
soon come to a stand-still, unless added momentum 
be continually imparted to it. The earth moves 
forward in its orbit by what we may call stored 
up momentum. The momentum of the earth is 
being overcome continually, but the contraction of 
the orbit of the earth is in exact ratio to the loss 
of motion. Hence its times of revolution around 
the sun remain as at the beginning. 

When the earth was formed, its approximate 
distance from the sun was about 113,000,000 miles. 
It is now about 20,000,000 miles nearer the sun. In 
the revision which is planned two years hence 
(1918), this book will go a little more deeply into 
some matters that are only lightly touched at 
this time. 

Earth Settles to Sun. On the whole the earth is 
constantly settling to the sun, and at the end of 
creative time it will have settled down to the sun 
by the law of sympathetic attraction, when it will 
be "destroyed by fire" or electric action, for the 
pent up forces that are bound in the body of the 
planet will be set free, and these forces will "melt 
the earth with fervent heat." The then perfect 
soul of man will pass to the interior of the sun to 
dwell with the Father for all the endless ages of 
eternity. And there on the inner dome of the sun 
the soul of man will see the universe with its full 
history, and this will be before our eyes contin- 



274 PLAN OF CEEATION 

ually. Our lives here on this earth and all the 
scenes that we hold dear will there be seen in far 
greater beauty and vividness than the mind of 
man can at this time conceive to be possible. Not 
one note of harmony or one single object of beauty 
will be lost, but will be eternally reflected in the 
spiritual universe. There we will see ourselves as 
little children in the presence of parents, and have 
the supreme satisfaction of knowing that our par- 
ents are there also, together with all the members 
of the human race, with not one missing and none 
lame or halt or blind or in any manner imperfect. 
There the human mind can recreate the earth and 
people it over with figures that will look like real 
human beings ; figures of animals also can be made 
to appear in living form, together with all the 
planets of the solar system, including the great 
planet Jupiter, and all will have plenty of room to 
revolve on the inside of our great sun home. For 
then "all power is given into your hands,' ' by the 
law of perfect agreement, as it now is with our 
Savior, who is "one with God." 

Pulse Rates. Nature has sixty-four (64) pulse 
rates, or one pulse for each class of matter. The 
childhood pulse is the quickest pulse, while the 
old age pulse is the slowest and the strongest. Be- 
fore the earth was created a thousand years was 
required to run out each pulse, or 64,000 years to 
run them all out. Therefore the universe was at 
least 64,000 years old when the earth was first 
formed. At least one complete cycle had passed 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 275 

before the earth was created, and the length of a 
cycle was then 64,000 years. And it is assumed 
here that Christ broke away from his planetoid 
shell at the end of the old age pulse and the be- 
ginning of the youth pulse, for at the instant this 
break between the slow and quick pulse takes 
place the universe is thrown into chaos for an in- 
stant of time. Christ himself can give the world 
this information, for he declares he was with the 
Father before the earth was created, and since that 
was the declaration of a literal truth, it is assumed 
here that he broke away from his planetoid shell 
at the instant of the break between the two pulse 
rates. At the end of creative time the pulse rates 
will be reduced to 187% years each, or from 64,- 
000 to 12,000 years, which will then be the length 
of a cycle. "In the twinkling of an eye ye shall 
be changed" from the old age pulse back to the 
youth pulse. And thus is "youth eternally re- 
newed.' J No such quick change is promised in 
this life, though it will be fulfilled to the letter in 
the perfect state. We will be youthful in old age 
and full of wisdom in youth, though we will not 
be the same in the different pulse rates. Each 
pulse rate will satisfy us while it lasts, for har- 
mony will never end. God will be the light of the 
great universal city, for then light will be every- 
where and there will be no darkness anywhere, 
neither sorrow nor pain, for the former things will 
have passed away forever. 
One Sabbath of a thousand years has already 



276 PLAN OF CREATION 

passed and we are coming into the beginning of 
the second; therefore the age of the earth is about 
13,000 years, and God will soon enter into His 
second Sabbath of rest, which will extend over a 
period of another thousand years, while His third 
Sabbath is never to end. Therefore, all the years 
of this physical earth will be 20,000 or 21,000 
years, depending on whether it is destroyed at the 
beginning of the third Sabbath or at the end of it. 
And the universe itself at the end of creative time 
will be either 84,000 or 85,000 years old, depending 
upon whether the earth is destroyed at the begin- 
ning of the third Sabbath or at the end of it. Time 
merely marks change in matter, but has no power 
to change anything. All that we know about time 
or can know, is what we observe in the changing 
relation in the planets, one to the other, and the 
changes we see going on in matter. There lies be- 
fore me a stone that was formed in a few hours 
and its age is about four years. It might be taken 
for a stone millions of years old. Appearances 
count for little in many things and in many in- 
stances. The Grand Canyon of Arizona and the 
other deep gorges of the earth were formed by the 
retreating waters at the time of the deluge, for as 
the mountain ranges were forced up to great 
height by the pent up forces on the interior of the 
earth, the waters rushed to lower levels with a 
swiftness almost past understanding, and the 
crust of the earth was not as hard as it now is. 
The electric current is not weakened in its pas- 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 277 

sage through space. No loss of power is suffered, 
hence the most distant star reflects its light to us 
as freely as though it were millions of times closer 
to us. When sympathy is weakened at the earth 
end of the circuit, we may expect to see the law 
of repulsion drive a fixed star back further from 
the center of harmony and observe it to grow dim- 
mer; when sympathy is again renewed at the 
earth end of the circuit the star will again grow 
brighter and draw nearer to the sun center of har- 
mony, for it is a violation of the law of harmony 
that repels the stars. And this is not by any willed 
act of the God-Head. God repels all conscious 
acts of evil; He welcomes all conscious acts of 
good intent. And space being an empty void, the 
law of repulsion will drive a star back in space at 
an incredible speed, and will likewise draw it to- 
ward the center of harmony with the same degree 
of swiftness. Nothing else could account for the 
queer action observed by astronomers among the 
fixed stars. 

On the wnole, the universe is contracting and 
drawing nearer to the sun, and it is this change in 
angle that leads our astronomers to conclude that 
the solar system is moving through space. This 
is not likely, for the impact was equal from all di- 
rections when matter rushed together at the com- 
mon center. 

The Simple Truth Revealed. Instead of pass- 
ing time, we simply have change in relative posi- 
tions of planets, and changes in the composition 



278 PLAN OF CEEATION 

of matter. As observed from the surface of the 
earth the rate of change is about four times slower 
than it is on the planet Mercury; whereas on the 
planet Jupiter time would pass about twelve 
times slower than it does here on the earth. On 
the planet Saturn time would pass thirty times 
slower, and on Uranus eighty-four times slower, 
while on the planet Neptune, time would pass 
one hundred and sixty-five times slower than it 
passes here as viewed by us from the surface of 
the earth. So-called time would pass about 680 
times faster to an observer on the planet Mercury 
than to an observer on the planet Neptune. Is 
this not proof that it is rates of change in matter 
that gives us the idea of passing time? Do we 
need further proof of the fact that there is no 
such thing as passing time? 

The ability to foretell future events, in one or 
in many instances, is proof that there is fixed law 
working to a definite and ultimate end. And in 
many instances have future happenings been ac- 
curately foretold, even years before their actual 
occurrence. No number of guesses can possibly 
describe a future accident. 

Foreknowledge is possible only by virtue of the 
fact that there is fixed law working to a definite 
and ultimate end. The truth of this declaration 
will not be questioned. To declare the earth to be 
millions of years old, is simply to dispute the evi- 
dent fact that nature is unfolding to a perfect ul- 
Neptune, or the life span of Methuselah with that 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 279 

of an Edison. We see quick action in the one case 
timate by rapid strides, a fact that is plainly evi- 
dent to all. From the cradle to the grave is but a 
swift foot-race. On the invisible plane the motion 
is still more rapid. 

In point of time we are standing stock-still. In 
relation to change we are moving rapidly forward, 
from one stage of development to that of another. 
We live, move and have our being in the eternal 
"now." 

"Book of the Dead." It is said the Egyptians 
in their "Book of the Dead" held "In the begin- 
ning was the Noun, the primordial Ocean, in the 
depths of which floated the germs of all things. 
From all eternity God generated Himself, and 
gave birth to Himself in the bosom of this liquid 
mass, as yet without form and without use." 

From this we can see that the author or authors 
of the "Book of the Dead" had but a vague un- 
derstanding of the term eternity. From that book 
we get no explanation of how it was possible for 
God to give "birth to Himself" for an eternity, 
and then make up His mind to do something dif- 
ferent. Seeing that eternity could have had no 
beginning, we must know from this that there 
could have been no beginning to the formal 
universe, had the matter of which it is 
composed been massed or in close contact. Any 
theory that does not explain how past eternity has 
been spent is not of importance. We must fill 
every stage of beginningless and endless duration 



280 



PLAN OF CEEATION 



with design, or else show that there is no law and 
no design. And this as fully applies to eternity 
future as to eternity past. Where design ends, 
reason and order must of necessity come to an 
end. 

Natural Law not an Accident. Foreknowledge 
of events or happenings, is possible only by virtue 
of the fact that there is fixed law working to a 
definite and ultimate end. The truth of this dec- 
laration will not be questioned. Astronomers fore- 
tell eclipses, not by guessing, but by determining 
the rates of motion, distance and changes in rela- 
tive positions, through the law of mathematics. 
No number of guesses can possibly describe a 
future accident. In nature there are no accidents. 

A break in the law of design would be as de- 
structive to the universe, as a break in a rope 
would be to a man swinging a thousand feet from 
the surface of the earth, at the end of it. Nor can 
we imagine either the universe or the rope being 
created, except through design that led up through 
unbroken form to their creation. 

Nature would be just as powerless to produce 
order through a series of accidents, as man would 
be to make a steam engine by a great number of 
aimless operations. And the greater the number 
of accidents or aimless operations, the greater the 
confusion and distance to harmony and order. 
Yet scientists come dangerously close to declaring 
the universe a jumbled mass of accidents, w^hen 
they speak of the sun losing its light and heat, and 
of planets crashing together ! 



OE SWOED OF TEUTH 281 



THE BEAZEN SEEPENT. 
Commercial value is an invention of man; it is 
an arbitrary value, and not a real value. Commer- 
cial values rise and fall with reports either true or 
false. The price of flour goes up, with the report 
that there is a shortage of wheat. The only value 
there is in flour is its intrinsic food value. Labor 
can not put value where there is none. The value 
of flour can only be increased by adding to the 
quantity or improving the quality. Price is not a 
natural law, as some would teach; nor does the 
act of exchange determine the true value of any- 
thing. What is here stated of flour is true of all 
commodities, including gold, silver, diamonds and 
all articles of a like nature. The only commercial 
value gold has is fixed by arbitrary power, by the 
will of man. It is the government stamp on money 
that gives it its value. Though the material upon 
which the stamp is placed may have commercial 
value, it is not necessary that it should have. The 
value of a note is not in the paper on which it is 
written, but in the promise written on it. It has 
value, that is commercial value, for the reason 
that the man who gave it is the possessor of values 
sufficient to meet it. Money is a medium for the 
transfer of ownership of a commodity from one 
person to another, while cars are mediums for the 
transfer of a commodity from one place to another. 
The one is used to transfer ownership, the other to 
transfer the thing itself. 



282 PLAN OF CEEATION 

There should be, and will be, a dollar issued for 
every dollar of commercial value created, and 
this will make profit impossible. Price is an out- 
growth of profit. But for man's desire to get 
something for nothing, as interest on money, and 
thus be enabled to live without work, the price of 
all necessities would have been honest effort on 
the part of each individual who used them. The 
law is and should always have been, "render unto 
each according to his need." We are all children 
of one Father, and are therefore brothers and sis- 
ters in the fullest sense. Since a good father would 
not charge his own children a money price for the 
things they must have, neither could it have been 
the will of God that money should be used at all. 
His expressed will is to render unto each accord- 
ing to his need. 

Money is a makeshift in the affairs of man. It 
is blindness to imagine that it has any real value, 
or that human labor expended in mining it from 
the earth adds to it any real value. Human labor 
cannot put value where nature has not placed it, 
nor add to, or extract from such value by time 
service. Money will be used during the transition 
period from incivility and ignorance to a true con- 
ception of life and living, but it will be issued to 
each individual worker and ward of the nation, 
and will not be transferable. In this way money 
will serve us until we become civilized, but will 
offer no opportunity as now, for the privileged 
few to take advantage of the less fortunate. 



OK SWOKD OF TEUTH 283 

A thousand years of sane living will lift man- 
kind to a plane in which the idea of commercial 
value will have faded from the human mind and 
money will be known no more after. The love of 
money is doubtless the root of all the evils that 
curse us and in its present form must therefore be 
done away with. Utility should be the measure 
of value. A yard-stick of the cheapest wood has 
as much utility as a yardstick of gold, hence 
serves the purpose just as well. 

Paper is better than gold or silver for money, 
for it is cheaper and more convenient to carry. 

All services are finally paid for in labor or the 
products of labor, money being in reality a species 
of due bill transferring the credit of one to that of 
another. 

For one nation to borrow money from another 
nation or from individuals for the purpose of car- 
rying on war or for any other purpose, reveals a 
stupidness that is painful to say the least. Such 
an idea sprang from the money loaning class and 
their beneficiaries, and is kept in current by them. 
The value of every dollar now in circulation is 
based on the value of gold bullion, so that no mat- 
ter how much money there is in circulation, its 
value is the same as the gold brick, no matter if it 
be nothing but paper. The commercial value of 
gold bullion is always high because the supply is 
never equal to the demand. Thus the base is al- 
ways narrow, and the dollar calls for so many 
grains of gold, let it be silver or paper money. 



284 PLAN OF CREATION 

All debts, bonds, mortgages, notes, etc., are 
made payable in terms of dollars, and not in terms 
of bushels, pounds or yards. Hence the money 
lender in buying government bonds lends money 
to the whole people through their government, 
money that is stamped by the government, and 
by rights belongs to it. The money lender asks of 
the government a high rate of interest, and forces 
the price of money up, by narrowing or limiting 
the basis of its value. He in this way lowers the 
price of raw material, including labor power, so as 
to get more for himself, while giving nothing in 
return but what the people, through their govern- 
ment," already own. In this way a public debt is 
never paid, but grows ever larger and the load 
ever heavier on the backs of the people. Were all 
debts payable in terms of bushels, yards and 
pounds, the rich creditor would no more profit by 
a contracted money volume than the masses. The 
price of wheat, corn or cotton would make no dif- 
ference in the contract, since quantity and not 
price is specified. 

The time required to mine gold serves to keep 
it very much limited in volume, hence the price is 
always high. That which is made to appear as 
the cause is in reality the effect, for the price of 
gold is not determined by the amount of labor and 
time expended in its production, but by its volume. 
The law of supply and demand is the only law gov- 
erning commercial value, and this is a fictitious 
value placed there by man. If average social 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 285 

labor time determined commercial value, which is 
always expressed in price, shoddy goods would 
not be manufactured, nor would adulterations be 
found in food and drugs. Instead of "to the 
worker belongs the full product of his toil, ' ' it 
shall read, "to the whole people belong equally 
the products of labor.' ' Children must eat and 
the aged and infirm are entitled to sufficient for 
their needs, to the voluntarily idle nothing shall 
accrue, for "he who will not work shall not eat." 
No matter how healthy and strong he may be now, 
each man was at one time a helpless child, and all 
his wants were supplied by society through his 
parents. Man does not live to himself alone; he is 
a member of the human family and serves himsef 
best when he serves society best. The plea that 
the specially talented or the specially strong are 
entitled to a larger share of the wealth of the 
world than the less fortunate is born of selfishness 
and will not be recognized in future. We are all 
cogs in a great world machine, parts of a great hu- 
man organism, each performing his special ser- 
vice to the whole, as wheels, screws, pinions serve 
in a clock, or as heart, lungs, stomach serve to sus- 
tain life in the individual. Social service, not self 
service, shall in future impel men to activity; a 
social conscience will supplant the individual con- 
science and become the guide to future effort. 
Since all service must be repaid in products of 
labor, the coat made by one man is intrinsically as 
valuable as the shoes made by another, regardless 



286 



PLAN OF CREATION 



of the amount of labor power stored up in brain 
and muscles of either. 

Much more average social labor time is ex- 
pended upon production in China than in the Uni- 
ted States, and according to Marx, prices should 
be highest in China and lowest in the United 
States, while the exact reverse is true, 

Man is not in any true sense a creator. Nature 
is the one and only creator. Man takes the mate- 
rial which nature places in his hands and he molds 
or shapes it to serve some use, thus giving it an 
exchange value; but its intrinsic value is the gift 
of nature. If man could, by his labor, create real 
or intrinsic value, then there could never be set 
upon this earth the co-operative commonwealth, 
except by force and fraud. The reason is clear. 
One real or intrinsic value is as great as any other 
or as the whole. The smallest necessary part of a 
watch is as valuable as the watch, for without it 
the watch is useless. If a man by his labor could 
create a real or intrinsic value, he could pit that 
value against any other value or against all other 
value and could claim it as his own. To illustrate : 
If we allow that one man can create a real value 
of five dollars a day and another only two and a 
half; could not the one allow a part of his five dol- 
lars to remain to his credit, while the other con- 
sumes his share in food, clothes, etc.? The gov- 
ernment would become a debtor to the one, who 
would pile up a large amount in a few years and 
demand for it a piece of land, a house and lot, a 






OE SWOED OF TEUTH 287 

factory and machine, which would be to obligate 
the entire nation to contribute to his individual 
wants in preference to those of the less fortunate. 
But when we admit that no man can create value, 
but can only contribute useful service, and that 
his time can be placed against the equal time of 
another, then we can pay for the services of one 
in the products of another and God will continue 
to own the earth and will continue to be the crea- 
tor of all value. 

Is it not strange that an apostle of freedom 
should himself teach a doctrine that if carried 
into effect would forever forbid the realization of 
the very thing he advocates ? The Marxian law of 
value places an insurmountable obstacle across 
the path to the better order of living. 

To conceive the motive power as residing in the 
cart instead of in the horse is not more far from 
the truth than to assume that average social labor 
time in production determines commercial prices. 
The average social labor time required to produce 
a commodity determines largely the quantity to 
be placed on the market, but the price is deter- 
mined by the law of supply and demand. If no 
one wants a thing that particular thing will have 
no commercial value, for the commercial value of 
a commodity is the price people will pay for it. 
If no one will buy it, then it has no commercial 
value. This would not be so in the case of a real 
or intrinsic value. The bushel of wheat would con- 
tinue to retain its units of food value regardless 



288 PLAN OF CREATION 

of what men thought about it and regardless of 
whether it be worth a cent or worth nothing. One 
value is a human idea only, whereas the true value 
continues to exist independent of ideas. The food 
value in wheat will sustain life in dog, idiot or 
child even though neither of these recognize any 
kind of value in wheat. One value exists inde- 
pendent of the mind, whereas the other depends 
for its existence entirely upon the mind. 

There will be a strong tendency to limit the 
quantity of those articles which require a great 
deal of time and energy in production. Prices 
rise and fall every day in the markets of the world, 
swayed by the law of supply and demand; whole 
cargoes of fruit, vegetables, fish, etc., are wan- 
tonly destroyed in order to keep prices high. If 
Marx be right in his claim, the price of an article 
already produced would not be affected by 
destroying a part of the product. And in the new 
order it will not be so, for then there will be an 
equitable exchange and no profit allowed. 

The history of labor and wages may have occu- 
pied the life-time of some men to study out. But 
the facts are simple and they require no study. 
Commercial value is not a law; it is an invention 
of man, and inventions are sometimes complicated 
and hard to understand. Man's selfishness and 
dishonesty, no doubt, made this invention neces- 
sary, and just as the invention of the lock is in 
many cases a protection against thieves. But when 
we try to make an invention of man equivalent to 



OE SWOKD OF TEUTH 289 

a natural law, we succeed splendidly in deceiving 
ourselves. 

God Owns the Earth. No human being, be he 
king or slave, can own a single square foot of the 
earth's surface. God could not, in justice to Him- 
self and to humanity deed over to any person or 
any number of persons the smallest part of the 
earth's surface. God owns the earth and holds it 
for the common use of all. He can not transfer 
His ownership to any number less than the whole 
of the human race. The old claim that "the king 
can do no wrong" is not founded on truth for jus- 
tice can not be fixed by arbitrary law. Arbitrary 
rules are not even to be thought of; we are to be 
governed by absolute justice and when all submit 
to this rule, friction in all its forms will cease. 

Some men have queer notions of law and justice, 
and still queerer notions of God and His relation 
to fixed law. God has neither power nor authority 
to arbitrarily fix the terms of our existence and 
progress. The right to live carries with it the 
right to live on equal terms with every other man, 
woman and child. One can only lose this right by 
rebelling against the law of justice, and then only 
so long as he holds himself in that attitude of 
mind. The right to be born carries with it the 
right of equal inheritance to all the bounties of 
nature. 

A government if honestly administered is the 
expressed will of all its members, as well, the will 
of God in man; and the government or the will 



290 PLAN OF CREATION 

of the people through their representative heads 
determines in what manner and by what means 
industry shall be carried on. This government in 
the name of the people and for the benefit of all 
controls the land of the whole country or nation, 
including its mines. God can only express His 
will to a nation through its representative heads, 
and if the people are properly represented then 
the government, while representing its citizens, is, 
at the same time, the agent of God. Therefore, a 
ruler, be he king or president, is held responsible 
for his stewardship by both God and man. He 
may err; he may use his power in the interest of a 
class, but if so, he is a traitor to both God and 
man. If he use his power in the interest of all the 
people, he is a true representative of both God and 
man, but be he true or false, the just commands 
of a government are the commands of God Him- 
self. 

It has been wisely said: "In the presence of 
stupidity, the gods themselves are helpless.' ' But 
thanks to man's inventive genius, through the dis- 
covery of steam and its uses, and through electric 
power and display, superstition is fast dying. Men 
will be compelled to live in obedience to the de- 
mands of justice, when once their eyes are open to 
the facts ; with superstition dead, God will compel 
the world to live in accord with the dictates of en- 
lightened conscience. God could not enforce jus- 
tice in the past, when men's minds were filled with 
superstition; now it can be seen that there is an 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 291 

active cause back of every effect, and that nothing 
happens by chance. Not even a millionaire be- 
comes rich by chance, but by robbery. Private or 
individual ownership of the means of life is out of 
harmony with all reason and all justice. There- 
fore, we may know that the change is at our very 
door. 

In future, the people will make and unmake 
their own laws through the initiative and referen- 
dum. The recall of officials from public office will 
place power in the hands of the people at all times. 
No man can attain so high a position or standing 
that he may not be recalled from his exalted sta- 
tion, in the event of his failure to carry out the 
will of those who entrusted their welfare to his 
power and keeping. The people will be the real 
rulers, the officials being only the agents of the 
people. Let there be a full exposure of all wrong 
doing, whether great or small, for small evils be- 
come great if left to grow. Cut down the tree of 
evil, root and branch, and thus avoid danger and 
attain security. ' ' The original deeds were written 
with the sword — blows were the current coin given 
in payment; and for seals blood was used in pref- 
erence to wax." Thus spoke one of the world's 
greatest philosophers, Herbert Spencer. It is not 
hard to see the truth of his assertion. You, reader, 
and I have no right to live if individuals have the 
right to own the land and tools of production. In- 
dividual ownership resolves itself into priority of 
possession. It has no other foundation, and this 



292 PLAN OF CREATION 

is a sandy one. If priority of possession consti- 
tutes a just claim to the landed surface of the 
earth then the legal heirs are all dead. The In- 
dians, according to this claim, have the first right 
to both North and South America. If one man 
steals a horse from another and sells it to a third 
party, the rightful owner could not be said to have 
lost his ownership by this transaction. Most of 
the fertile valleys and plains of the earth have 
been taken and held by first one warring tribe and 
then by another, and the only deeds any of them 
had to the land was the deed that " might makes 
right." The original owner of the earth has not 
lost His title to it, and the time is near when a bon- 
fire will be made of all wills, deeds, mortgages and 
bonds. 

The inequality of the soil and location forbids a 
division of the land and equal distribution, even 
though attempted by men of perfect honesty. The 
landed surface of the earth is not one level plane, 
equally fertile in all its parts. Neither would it 
be possible to make up for this difference by giv- 
ing one more, another less. Without government, 
society is impossible. It would be a waste of time 
to attempt to establish peace on earth by allow- 
ing men to own separate portions of land, and to 
occupy themselves each in his own way. Besides, 
each new birth would call for a readjustment and 
a redistribution. Government ownership and man- 
agement of all industries makes all things right. 
The last and the least are entitled to as much as 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 293 

the first and the strong. Equal rights without 
equal opportunities are nothing; a dream that 
could never come true. 

The very idea of law and government forbids 
private ownership of land and the tools of produc- 
tion. A government of proprietors would be chaos 
and disorder, for each would be king over his own 
possessions. Those who own the land and tools 
of production own the government, and dictate 
how it shall be administered. One who is so mis- 
guided as to defend private ownership of public 
utilities has no right to say a word about the law 
or the form and function of government. If the 
rich justly own the country, then they have a 
right to run it to suit themselves. We have come 
to the parting of the ways. We must have either 
no voice in the government, or no share in the en- 
richment of a few. We must have either the rich 
and anarchy, or justice and law, without the rich. 
This does not mean poverty for any, but peace and 
plenty for all. He who defends private ownership 
of land and tools of production, contradicts him- 
self every time he casts a vote or has anything to 
say about statute law or form of government. If 
we grant others the right to own the means of life, 
we must grant them the right to rule. If a man 
has a just right to claim as his exclusive property 
any part of the earth's surface, we can no more 
ask him for the privilege of benefitting from that 
land, than we can ask him to cut off his legs and 
give us the use of them. No power can justly de- 



294 PLAN OF CEEATION 

prive a man of what belongs to him. We are noth- 
ing less than trespassers every time we set foot on 
another man's holdings if he has a just claim to 
possession. Private ownership of public utilities 
and natural resources makes us all invaders and 
trespassers. 

It is folly and blindness for preachers and 
would-be Christians to preach God and His salva- 
tion and at the same time ignore the economic 
wrongs of our time. It is as though one went 
among a band of robbers and murderers and 
preached salvation to them, yet made no effort to 
induce them to reform their conduct. The rich 
man can not be saved in his sins, but from them, 
if at all, and the only true preaching is that which 
seeks to turn men from wrong doing. Men's feel- 
ings can not be spared when it comes to reform. If 
there was ever a time in the life of man and the 
history of this world when plain talk was needed, 
it is here and now. The rich are even less to 
blame than are those who defend private owner- 
ship of public utilities; and when the day of re-ad- 
justment arrives, the rich will have a just com- 
plaint against the trucklers and knaves who have 
defended them in the possession of their ill gotten 
gains; for by this very defense the rich saw that 
what they would give up would be taken by these 
knavish defenders and made the same bad use of 
as they are making of this stolen wealth. 

The socialists are the only true ministers of God 
and justice on earth today, for they go to the f oun- 



OE SWORD OF TRUTH 295 

dation of wrong and seek to remove the tree of 
evil. They propose to open the door of oppor- 
tunity and hold it open to the least as well as the 
greatest; to the child of today as well as to the 
child of the past. Our wise teachers offer light for 
the soul, but nothing for the starving body. 

A poverty that holds a human being chained to 
one spot, not even allowing a visit to a dying 
father, mother, brother or sister, forbidding 
change of climate for the sick and rest for the aged 
is a condition hard for those who have never ex- 
perienced it to understand. We at the bottom have 
all these trials to bear and thousands more un- 
known to those at the top, the more fortunately 
situated. 

The Beast and Its Image. Few in this enlight- 
ened age will dispute the claim that the Catholic 
church is the " beast" referred to in Revelation, 
and fewer still will dispute the assertion that capi- 
talism is the " image of this beast," when they 
consider the meaning of the Scripture here cited. 
The Catholic church claims power over heaven 
and authority over the soul, while capitalism 
claims power over the bodies of men, women and 
children, and the ownership of the earth. To own 
the land and tools of production is to own the 
masses, soul and body. In view of these evident 
facts, can we doubt that capitalism is the " image 
of the beast"? Why does the Roman Catholic 
church spend so much time in defending capital- 
ism if it is not her image? 



296 



PLAN OF CKEATION 



The two " beasts" have one mind and one pur- 
pose, the control of the lives of the people. And 
now, having fulfilled their purpose, the two beasts 
will be destroyed, by taking away their power. 
Man is stubborn, blind and selfish; he refuses to 
learn in any other school than that of bitter ex- 
perience; hence the reason organized evil has been 
permitted to remain in the world as long as it has. 
But now that the people can see the wrongs that 
are being carried on by both the " beast and its 
image," their removal from the world becomes 
absolutely necessary, that further progress may be 
made. When the last rascal in office has been over- 
thrown, and the Constitution restored to the 
people, it will be found that Article XIII, Section 
1 of Amendments to the national Constitution for- 
bids wage slavery, *as the wording clearly indi- 
cates. The old political parties bear the same re- 
lation to progress and prosperity that a brake on 
an engine bears to its speed. They hinder prog- 
ress but do nothing to help it along. Conditions 
now existing were born but yesterday. A change 
is much nearer than men dream. The last fifty 
years has given us most of our labor saving de- 
vices. But their benefits have accrued to the 
owners, not the workers. All the labor saving 
machines and efficiency systems have not lessened 
the hours of labor for the workers, but served to 
throw out of employment a growing army of men. 
Economy must be adjusted to meet intellectual 
and material progress. The masses are bound 



OK SWORD OF TRUTH 297 

hand and foot, and they are asleep as to the cause. 
"I have provided a means for your escape" has 
no reference to belief in Christ, but to a political 
escape from industrial slavery. The forces are 
lining up for the final struggle. Capital backed 
by the Catholic church, and labor backed by in- 
telligence are soon to engage in a deadly struggle, 
the equal of which the world has never known. 
The secret and open efforts to bind the hands of 
the masses is past belief, except to those who give 
the matter serious thought. The powers that be 
seek to imprison and otherwise silence the agita- 
tors, that the work of tying hands may not be dis- 
turbed. But it shall not be written "Ye are eter- 
nally lost." We will be saved. 

Wage Slavery Prohibited by the Constitution. 

In Amendments to the Constitution of the United 
States, Article XIII, Section 1 reads as follows: 
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude ex- 
cept as a punishment for crime whereof the party 
shall have been duly convicted shall exist within 
the United States, or any place subject to their 
jurisdiction." The word "involuntary" has but 
one meaning, "not having will or choice; unwill- 
ing." (See Webster's Unabridged Dictionary). 
The man compelled to work for a small wage is a 
more helpless slave than was the negro before he 
was free to leave his master. Let the reader 
answer whether this is true. The voters of this 
country have the right to compel obedience to the 



298 PLAN OF CREATION 

Constitution, and it is our moral duty to compel 
obedience to its just demands. 

The opinion of Justice Field, concerning the 
term "involuntary servitude" is expressed in his 
own words, which follow: "The words * involun- 
tary servitude' include something more than 
slavery, in the strict sense of the term. They in- 
clude also, serfage, vassalage, peonage, and all 
other forms of compulsory service for the mere 
benefit or pleasure of others. Nor is this the full 
import of the term. The abolition of slavery and 
involuntary servitude was intended to make every 
one born in this country a free man, and as such to 
give him the right to pursue the ordinary voca- 
tions of life without other restraint than such as 
affects all others, and to enjoy equally with them 
the fruits of his labor. A person allowed to pur- 
sue only one trade or calling, and only in one lo- 
cality of the country, would not be, in the strict 
sense of the term in a condition of slavery, but 
probably no one would deny that he would be in a 
condition of servitude. He certainly would not 
possess the liberties, nor enjoy the privileges of a 
free man. ' ' He is not a free man who is forced to 
work, allowing a profit on his labor to accrue to 
an employer. A number of assaults have been 
planned against the national Constitution, one of 
which appeared in the pages of no less an organ 
than the Wall Street Journal. But this document 
still lives, and it must live till freedom has been 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 299 

gained, after which a stronger Constitution may 
be framed. 

The so-called Supreme Court of the United 
States is the most unconstitutional thing we have 
in this country today. It should and must be 
abolished. The Declaration of Independence and 
the Constitution of the United States are valueless 
documents so long as capitalism be allowed to live. 
We can neither live in accord with the spirit of 
the Constitution nor the plain commandments of 
God, so long as we permit the "beast" and its 
"image" to reign. Commercial trusts threaten 
the existence of the nation, while the labor trusts 
threaten the life of the individual who has only 
his labor to sell. One evil grows out of another; 
even makes it justifiable under the conditions. 
The labor union is justified under capitalism, yet 
one is as dangerous and as unreasonable as the 
other. 

The Inventor. The rights of an inventor die 
with him. As an incentive and stimulus to inven- 
tive genius, all worthy inventions shall be ap- 
praised and an amount placed to the credit of the 
inventor. Upon this sum the inventor may sub- 
sist for one, two or ten years, depending upon the 
value of his invention. He may employ his time 
in the effort to work out other inventions and if 
successful may continue to live by this method, 
instead of being compelled to engage in other 
kinds of productive work. But an inventor must 
bear the expense of his own models except per- 



300 PLAN OF CREATION 

haps in rare cases; otherwise the nation would run 
the risk of being cursed with "cranks working on 
windmills.' ' If an invention is a mere novelty, it 
is not probable the nation would feel itself in- 
debted to the inventor. Nor would we permit an 
allowance unused by the inventor to pass to his 
family or relatives at his death. For under the 
new order all are considered and their wants 
amply provided for. 

Hence a pension granted to one should not be 
passed to another, nor would there be any ne- 
cessity for such a provision. 

Useful Professions. All professions of service 
will be sought under the new order, though many 
positions now filled by men would be valueless 
and wasteful. Phrenology, though not fully recog- 
nized as a science, is without doubt an important 
branch of knowledge of our time. There are many 
impostors in this profession, doubtless, but it is 
not impossible to find those who can contribute 
valuable service to the nation through their 
knowledge of this subject. All will serve the gen- 
eral government, and thus fulfill that highest re- 
quirement, "each for all and all for each." This 
identity of interest can not be expressed except 
through a central or general government. "The 
impossibility of paying one laborer except in the 
products of another, justifies the equality of 
wages," says the great political economist, P. J. 
Proudhon. To pay unequal wages would be to 
build back to capitalism again. 



OR SWORD OF TRUTH 301 

No man can live in isolation and retain Ms 
reason. That is to say, no man could live in isola- 
tion from childhood to old age and reach a mental 
plane above that of the savage. And should our 
talented man isolate himself from human society 
after he reached manhood, and push back into the 
wilds and locate a vast tract of land and claim it 
as his own on the strength of priority of discovery 
or possession, this land will have no commercial 
value, except society closes in around him and his 
possessions. No amount of labor and improve- 
ments will give to our talented man's holdings 
any commercial value, unless civilization follows 
him. Except for the labor of others and an army 
of consumers, who would allow him a profit on 
what they consumed, his holdings could not have 
any commercial value. 

Commercial value is an engine; the steam and 
the power of this engine lies wholly in an army of 
consumers who allow a profit on what they con- 
sume to go to a privileged few. Commercial value 
had its birth in the minds of human devils, who 
saw a chance to make the vast majority of man- 
kind pay a profit to a privileged few. And while 
we cannot at this stage in history destroy the idea 
of commercial value in the human mind, we can 
at least prevent a profit going to the few. The 
government will be the only buyer of labor and 
the only seller of products, and in this way profit 
or increase will be eliminated. And finally the 
idea of commercial value will fade from the human 



302 PLAN OF CREATION 

mind, and then will come the true brotherhood of 
man. 

"Take no increase" is a direct command of God 
Himself to man. And all who willingly and know- 
ingly permit an increase or profit to go to a privi- 
leged few, are as guilty of violating a direct com- 
mand of God, as are those who receive the profit 
or increase. The true brotherhood of man is yet a 
thousand years ahead of us; we will finally reach 
the plane of understanding where we "become a 
law unto ourselves/ ' and organized government 
goes out of existence. An institution or an organ- 
ization can only exist as long as there is anything 
for it to do. When there are no longer any crimi- 
nals there will be no more jails and penitentiaries. 
And when man reaches the plane where he is per- 
fectly willing to remain in his own orbit, govern- 
ment will go out of existence, because there will be 
nothing left for organized government to do. 

But in the meantime we will live and let live, 
and those who rebel against justice, we mill have 
to restrain them through the arm of government. 
Privilege and profit, however, will be allowed no 
longer. 

Not even our highest officials shall receive more 
for their daily services than is allowed to the com- 
monest ditch digger, for one service is equal to the 
other, so long as it is necessary. Let those who 
dislike to abide by the law of justice go and make 
their homes with the savage. Those occupations 
that require close attention and those that tax the 



OK SWORD OF TRUTH 303 

vitality to its utmost, will have to be regulated 
through the hours, but not by any difference in 
wages. The income of the nation will be divided 
equally among its members, for those not able to 
work are entitled to live as comfortably as those 
strong and healthy. 

No man or woman will be persecuted for their 
past beliefs and conduct. All will be compelled 
to conform outwardly to the new order, though it 
can not be expected that men and women will of a 
sudden forget their life-long beliefs. The errors of 
the past will be openly criticised and false sys- 
tems exposed, but pity will take the place of 
blame when it comes to dealing with individuals, 
for no man, not even God Himself, can undo the 
past. That is why repentance up to the very hour 
of death is promised, for the best any of us can do 
is to turn from evil and turn to good. As long as 
the people themselves uphold a system that sanc- 
tions legal robbery they are more to blame than 
the few who profit by it. Indeed, it could hardly 
be expected that the rich would give up an advan- 
tage the people themselves believe in. 

God Himself is powerless to compel men to 
think right, though He will compel men to act 
right, one toward the other, in the future, for 
when once man is shown the course he is to follow, 
after understanding the justice of it, he will be 
compelled to move in his own orbit and allow 
others to move in theirs. Thus will he be made to 



304 PLAN OF CREATION 

act as orderly in his outward conduct as the plan- 
ets do. 

Those who would persecute are no better than 
those who did persecute. Therefore, while we will 
proceed with promptness to destroy the monarchy 
of past systems and slavish beliefs, we will spare 
the individuals themselves. 

Woman and Her Place in the Co-operative Com- 
monwealth. It would be nothing less than selfish- 
ness and blindness to think of paying to a woman 
a lower rate for her services than to a man for his. 
Her needs are at least as great as his, and justice 
demands the same pay for all adults, regardless 
of sex or color. Whether or not a married woman 
with children shall receive wages for keeping her 
home and caring for her children is a question 
that must be decided under the co-operative man- 
agement. But of one thing we may be quite sure : 
Children being wards of the nation will be insured 
sufficient food and clothing, and opportunity for 
growth, healthful activity and education. Other- 
wise there could be no foundation for justice or 
equality, either in the life of the child or of the 
parents. The government should make provision 
for the welfare of each child, so that the man with 
a large family will be on an equal footing with the 
man who has a small family or none at all. The 
one sure cure for "race suicide' 9 is to provide for 
mothers and children, but in just what way this 
is to be done must be left to the future to work 
out. But it must be worked out with absolute jus- 



OE SWORD OF TRUTH 305 

tice to the mothers of the nation and to the 
children. 

Form of Money to be Used. Labor checks or 
certificates of credit will be issued to the workers, 
including all official heads. These will not be 
transferable, thus preventing gambling for money. 
These certificates may be similar to postal money 
orders, with provisions for stamping out values 
when used. On a center square a photograph of 
the worker may be taken, as a means of quick 
identification, since these certificates are to take 
the place of gold and silver, and will be good for 
their face value anywhere in the nation. The de- 
tails can be easily worked out when the intelli- 
gence of the nation is directed toward the estab- 
lishment of the new order of freedom and equality. 

THE END. 






Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Oct. 2004 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



